Bounty Hunter
by Choas Studios
Summary: A re-imagining of the Metroid Prime trilogy. What happens when the famous Bounty Hunter, Samus Aran, runs into a mysterious Armored figure on Research Station above Tallon IV.
1. Prologue

Bounty Hunter

Prologue: The Assignment

* * *

Era: Tranquil-Mystic Calendar

Cycle: 2548

Time: 11:00 Galactic standard time

Plane: Gamma

Location: Unknown

* * *

Drifting through the darkness of space, a lone space craft moved in silence. Its course and purpose unknown to all, except for the pilot. The ship itself was sunset amber and shaped like a tear drop, with the rounded side acting as the bow. The front was an emerald green screen split into four sections, two large and two small on the side, coupled with the scooped exhaust vent on the front, the ship seemed to resemble a helmeted face. Its tail end had two large thrusters and its black underbelly bore four rotating thrusters spaced evenly along the ships underside for increased movement speed and precision stabilization control along with four vents located in between each smaller thruster.

In it was a sleeping female figure in a sky blue latex body suit with deep blue trimming on the forearms and shins. A pink 'X' shaped marking on the back, split into four squares with one extra in the center. Its right hand had a pink circular pattern on the back with rip pattern down the center and triangular points at the end, and a pink eye on its right breast, which were a considerable size, her long Blonde hair tied into a ponytail through use of a ruby red scrunchy.

She lay sleeping in a cryogenic state recovering from her hard fought battle against the Space Pirates, the Metroids, and the Mother Brain on the planet Zebes. Zebes' subsequent destruction had led her to believe that the Metroid threat had ended, as well as the Pirates experiments in turning the dangerous Metroid's into Bio-weapons.

'_Beep, beep, beep_'

A sudden alarm blares throughout the inner sanctum of the ship, causing the slender form to stir from her peaceful slumber. She opened her deep sapphire orbs and lean forward in her reclined chair.

'_Samus, an urgent message from Galactic Federation Head Quarters.'_ A monotonous female voice resounded through the cabin.

"What is it Nora?" Samus' voice was soft and firm, a result of her many experiences, she spoke in a kind tone that complemented the softness of her song like voice, but was firm enough to command respect without coming off like a cold hearted woman.

'_The message states that suspicious activity has been reported near Tallon IV.' _ The monotonous woman replied

"Space Pirates?"

'_There are no specifics, only that a distress signal has been detected emanating from the region, along with a massive energy spike indicating a warp jump. Your assignment is to investigate the remnants of the abandoned research facility still in orbit above the planet and determine the reason for the spike in activity… Do you accept?'_

'_Why would they want me to investigate a pile of rubble?_' Samus thought to herself "Who is the message from?"

'_Admiral Dane'_

'_Dane… Must be serious if it's Dane that requested me._' Samus thought as she remembered the kind of personality the Federation Admiral was known for. "I accept, let the Admiral know I am enroute to Tallon IV." She reached her hand out and a panel rose up from the command board laid out in front of her, the glass panel glowed an emerald green circle that parted at certain areas with smaller circles repeating the pattern towards the center of the pedestal.

She laid her hand on the panel and the monotone voice spoke _'Course change accepted. New destination: Tallon IV. Estimated arrival time: Four galactic standard hours. Engaging cryo-sleep, thaw cycle set to engage one hour before arrival.'_

Samus retracted her latex clad hand, leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes. A slight pinch hit her body before she fell into her cold slumber. Not to wake until her hunt should begin, as well as a tale the likes of which she will not soon forget.


	2. Chapter I

Bounty Hunter

Chapter I: Uninvited Guests

* * *

Era: Tranquil-Mystic Calendar

Cycle: 2548

Time: 15:00 Galactic standard time

Plane: Gamma

Location: Enroute to Tallon IV

* * *

"_One hour till arrival at Tallon IV. Thaw cycle initiated." _The monotonous voice spoke. Samus' slender frame began to stir as she came out of her cryogenic sleep. She once again opened her crystalline blue eyes to see the shuttered cabin window. _"__We are approaching Tallon IV in fifty minutes, Samus. Please make any preparations you may need."_

Samus stood from her reclining chair, and proceeded toward the back of the ship. The interior of the _Bounty Hunter Class_ ship was much larger than the exterior would let on, it could easily accommodate four people and came equipped with a bath and sink, for those long missions away from home. She came to a glowing cavity that housed her iconic Varia Suit, given to her by the Chozo. It was orange and yellow with large round paulders and an emerald green visor. The right forearm down to the hand formed her infamous beam cannon, a metallic teal with yellow lights running along the sides.

Samus usually just summons her suit through the use of her sky blue Zero Suit, but for the instances she needs to run a thorough diagnostic and do some critical repairs she has a stasis tube.

"Time to go, old friend" She reached out her hand and touched the environment suit, the suit was suddenly enveloped in a bright yellow light, then vanished from reality. The cavity that once held the legendary suit now empty, but Samus' Zero Suit had a yellow aura radiating from it. _"__Suit assimilation complete, Status: one hundred percent. No abnormalities detected."_

"How long until we arrive?" Samus questioned the voice

"_Approximately ten minutes until warp out."_

"Good, once we warp out, bring us near the Research station."

"_Understood Samus."_

Samus moved back to her reclining seat and awaited the deceleration to normal drive. The ship made a low, but loud hum that signaled its deceleration, it then started shaking and just as suddenly smoothed out. Samus then pushed a red switch to the right of her, near the base of the cabin window, it retracted the shutters blocking her view of the vast darkness and the glistening jewels caught throughout its mysterious embrace.

Usually Samus would stare at the stars, wondering '_How many different stars were out there? How many worlds yet to be discovered?_' but not this time, this time her eyes were stuck looking at the red planet, Tallon IV, and its derelict space station. The only question in her mind '_Why would anyone want to come here?_' but she knew better than to ask a question with such an obvious answer.

"No one would think to check an abandoned research facility. Check for any signs of activity." The screen in the center of the command console lit up and a blue image of the destroyed facility illuminated on the screen. A thin light moved across the screen and the image of the facility showing several red lines on the display as it did. "Lights are on…" and a hundred yellow dots appeared throughout the image "…and someone's home. Get ready to-" suddenly one of the yellow lights flickered and vanished then another and another.

Samus engaged her Varia suit, causing her Zero Suit to glow and form several yellow particles that grew and coalesced together to form her Varia suit around her body. "Bring us in." Samus ordered.

The Bounty hunter ship came into dock just behind the remnants of a platform. The ship, which resembled the helmet of Samus' Varia Suit, used its four rotating jet thrusters to stabilize its orbit above the orange planet and match the Station's acceleration.

A hatch on the top of the ship released its locking mechanism and a series of sliding triangles slid open, a platform within rose to the top of the ship revealing Samus' armored form. She jumped from the top of the ship, front flipping onto the platform below. She examined her immediate surroundings to make sure she was not walking into a trap. Satisfied she tapped her arm canon to signal the ship to lock itself down.

She noticed a force field in front of her along with four red lights. She activated her scanning visor, a rectangular icon that blocks out Samus combat visor and darkens outside of a circle around the rectangle with several twitching lines on the inside, to discover it to be a failsafe mechanism and that an energy discharge aimed at the red orbs would shut down the barrier. She fired four yellow shots at the lights causing them flick off revealing the grey back drop. The barrier itself shut off allowing her access the next area.

She came to another force field this one having six lights instead of four, all were grey indicating that they were off, but the force field was very much active. She went into her scanning visor again and saw a panel adjacent from her attached to a large cylindrical metal basilisk. She scanned the panel and discovered it to be the power source to the deactivation switches. Samus reactivated the panels and shot them to deactivate the field.

She jumped onto the elevated platform in front of her and proceeded up the ramp to a hexagonal door. '_This should lead to the air lock…hopefully it still has power_' she moved toward the door causing the energy lock to deactivate allowing access to the other side. The door opened revealing the ten meter long cylindrical air lock.

Samus moved through the long corridor, filled with dim lights and cyan circular installations on the left wall, two had a status of areas on the facility. Each reading '_Deck Gamma: Reactor Core and Propulsion. Current Status: Environment normal._' '_Deck Beta: Biohazards research. Current Status: Environment Stable._' '_Deck Alpha: Emergency Evacuation Area. Current Status: Environment Unstable._' She made her way to another corridor and proceeded to open the door. On the other was an airlock with floating debris, and large green insect corpses '_…Something definitely happened here._' Samus thought

Samus made her way into the airlock, the hexagonal door locking behind her. She noticed that the next door was deactivated '_Of course the door would be locked._' Samus thought to herself. She activated her scanning visor and proceeded to hack a panel to her left. The power to the airlock was restored, reengaging the gravity filling the room with air and dropping the floating debris to the ground. The door's power was also restored allowing her entrance to the central control station. '_Gotcha_' she moved through the rest of the fifteen meter long tubular hallway towards the next hexagonal door, she noticed large green insects moving under the glass flooring. '_This should lead to the central control room…_'

Once on the other side of the door she noticed that the room was a war zone. There was a massive hole in the wall caused by a giant insect easily forty meters in length and seven meters high its body restrained by four steel cables. Its dark brown armored hide bore many carbon markings the floor warped by its immense weight and dramatic entrance. '_What the hell is that?_' she took note of the flames and the corpses of the bane of Samus' existence '_Space Pirates. Why am I not surprised?_'

She proceeded down the ramp, noticing that a skewered pirate corps was being eaten by a green insect similar to the one that was floating in the airlock. She activated her scanning visor and decided to examine all she could. She found the green insect to be a parasite native to Tallon IV, harmless by itself but deadly in swarms, and that the pirate corpse it was feeding off of died from having his spine severed by the giant corpse's leg that is still rammed through the body. She then found the giant insect corpse too heavily mutated to be completely identified, but she discovered that it had an appendage designed for birthing and that whatever it was had been heavily mutated due to radiation. The creatures mouth was well muscled, held several acidic fluid sacs, and was currently on fire. Behind the behemoth was a pirate corpse that had been burned to death by the flames around it.

As she walked along the opposite walk way she noticed that the room held various boxes containing _P__hazon_. '_What could the pirates need with Phazon?_' three more parasites were feeding on some green blood that was still oozing out of the pirate corpse draped over the railing. She continued down the short walk way, scarring the small parasites away causing them to take refuge behind some crates. She took note of the empty escape pod ports, her scanner showed that they were jettisoned six hours prior to her arrival.

She came across one more corpse that was propped up against a computer console, Samus' visor scanned the corpse to find that it was indeed still alive, if barely, and bore large bite marks on its exoskeleton. The pirate noticed Samus' orange silhouette he uttered a garbled anguished roar in his native tongue. He feebly raised his right arm and pointed it at the bounty hunter and the back of his wrist started to glow crimson.

Samus activated her combat Visor which consisted of a three dimensional map in the upper right corner of her visor. The left side of the visor had a hazard level bar with a missile counter bar on the right. the top of her visor had a florescent blue bar to indicate her shield strength and suit integrity. the center of her visor had a green reticule with a three pronged line encasing a green dot that moved with her beam cannon. the lower edge of Samus' visor had a compass to indicate her current direction of movement.

'_You think he would be grateful?_' Samus thought in mock disappointment. The pirate fired three crimson shots at his '_savior_' only to have them side stepped by the agile Hunter. '_Might as well. He won't live long anyway…_' Samus brought her beam cannon to bear and fired one shot at the crippled pirate burning through his already shattered armor. He screamed in agony as his dying body tensed up and fired random shots into the air as he his went limp for the last time.

'_…I hate killing the crippled, but I honestly hate Space Pirates even more._' Samus moved to the console next the fresh corpse '_Now…_' she started typing on the console as she scanned the computer '_let's see what happened here…_' as she went to look through the recent records she found the same message repeating over and over again '_Escape pod launched destination Tallon IV 110L.30L. Research Commando Center_' '_Sounds interesting, I'll have to look into it once I'm done here._' Samus decided to look over the most recent file and found an unexpected development.

'_What is-Why is that here?_' Samus took note of the autonomous bipedal machines moving a crate. '_Never seen that type before._' They stood a towering seven meters and had a large clasping claw for a right hand. The head was a trapezoidal shape and menacing red eyes. Its legs attached in reverse to give more lift, and the feet were flat platforms.

'_Must be a labor unit, now when was this taken…five weeks ago? I'll have to look into this later…what about our other guest?_' She sifted through to the recordings taken today; there she found one partially corrupted still image recording of another figure she did not recognize.

It was a six foot armored figure; the armor itself was pitch black with platinum markings running along the arms and legs of the suit. The left and right arm gauntlets had slim sapphire lights running along the length of them, like an electronic interface. The helmet was an elongated ovular shape with diamond shaped sapphire eyes that had pointed inwards and towards the back of the skull, which had several tendrils protruding from the back. She could not tell its armament since it was a still image of the figure ripping out a pirate's heart.

'_That's strange? It's not metallic. I wonder who, or what, that is._' She stepped away from the panel and proceeded to a door to her right, but it was blocked by debris. Samus engaged her scanning visor to analyze the structural integrity. She found that her charge beam had enough power to remove the obstruction.

Samus held out her beam cannon and used her left hand to steady it as she readied herself for powerful weapon. Her right arm began to shake as a high pitched whine was heard from the arm cannon it slowly split apart and extended allowing a yellow mist to radiate from her arm as the orb formed at the barrel of the cannon, slightly engulfing the tip of barrel. She braced herself as the orb surged forth, clearing the corridor of debris as it made contact.

Samus moved down the winding hallway and through the door that lie beyond the removed debris. She came to another long corridor. As she made her way down the long corridor she froze suddenly as she saw a group of seven yellow eyed parasites crawling along the walls and floor. The detestable green bugs looked at Samus, as prey would look at a predator, and darted for a small alcove for protection from the emerald visor bounty hunter.

'_I wonder…_' Samus knelt down in front of the small opening to see if there was anything note-worthy beyond. She saw a small room on the other side '_…interesting._' the alcove was too small for Samus to crawl through with her Varia Suit active, but she could not deactivate the environment suit due to the vast unknown threats that could be waiting for her. _'I guess it's time for the Morph ball._' She curled her into a fetal position to initiate the transformation she was suddenly enveloped by the same yellow summoning light that had called forth her Varia Suit. As the light dissipated Samus' human body was none existent only the silhouette of a ball remained.

The ball was the same amber orange that Samus' suit had been; it was split down the middle revealing a blue energy within and paneling on the outer skeleton. The ball began to roll on its own down the corridor, the blue energy leaving a trail behind it. Once the ball got to the room on the other side it emitted the yellow glow and Samus' body reappeared. '_Well that was fun..._' Samus always had fun rolling around in the Morph Ball, but now was not the time for pleasure.

She scanned the room finding computer panels on either side and a station in the middle of the room, overlooking the vast darkness. '_Looks like a Map Station. This should come in handy._' She moved to the station and held up her arm cannon a small interface came down allowing her to stick the cannon in for download. When she had the map in hand she started scanning the rest of room for Intel.

'_Looks like the pirates were doing some experimentation. Huh, what is this...?_ '_Tallon IV Ground Zero area secured. Crater radiation readings normal.'_ _Must be where they are getting the phazon. Here's a status on the frigates hull..._'_Stable and fully functional_?' _As long as it doesn't explode I'll be fine. The last thing I need is to escape an exploding frigate._'

Samus looked to the adjacent wall and found a situation report prior to the distress beacon '_Two Parasite Queen specimens have become volatile on Deck Beta. All security personnel should report to the Biotech Research Area. Parasite infestation has been detected in the ventilation systems of Decks Gamma and Beta.' __Looks like they got in over their heads again._' Samus thought upon reading the reports.

Samus noticed a peculiar entry related to the 'guest' from earlier '_This could be useful._' As she read the document she found that it had no specifics on the creature. '_So this thing apparently stowed away on one of the inbound crates. No specifics on this thing either… Wait-What? This thing's armor has a similar energy signature to the Varia Suit, but how?! This should the only suit of its kind. I think me and this guest should have a little chat._'

She turned to leave the room through the small opening, activating her Morph Ball, and proceeded through the hexagonal. '_I have to question why space pirates would put that room where they couldn't reach. It's not like they have the Morph Ball._' Samus thought as she descended down the elevator that waited for her.

Once at the bottom she found the corridor to be a complete wreck. '_Looks like the 'guest' has been busy._' Her map showed that this corridor came to a right angle turn, but the turn was collapsed with debris. Samus noticed there was an opening for her to use her Morph Ball, but it was blocked by extremely high wattage arcing electricity. '_Looks like I'll have to time this right…_' She waited for the arc to fade a few times before she surged forth and rolled into her Morph Ball allowing Samus to squeezed through the tiny hole. On the other side she continued unhindered.

She proceeded through a large room with a giant chilled test tube that contained what looked to be another of the giant insect corpses which had been designated a Parasite Queen due her earlier discovery. The Queen was put in a state of stasis hibernation. As Samus proceeded along the walkway she heard the groaning of injured space pirates. One was limping and had severe internal damage and the other was propped up against the wall both of its legs completely shattered. They opened fire on Samus, but the fire fight ended with two well-placed shots to their heads.

Upon closer inspection she saw that the pirates had multiple lacerations and carbon scoring. '_Could the guest have done this?_' She moved to the door at the corner of the angled walkway.

Samus took note of the glowing orange experiment reports on the wall, two listed the states of the queens showing one to be in hibernation awaiting phazon transferal and another listed as unknown with phazon rejection. Another had a detailed diagram of the parasite queen, detailing the mutation process and birthing process noting that the acid sacs enlarge allowing for a corrosive bite and the eggs being durable enough to protect against acidic fluid. After mutation the carapace becomes rigid and the combat augmentations allow the tips to pierce through any known alloy. '_That explains the skewered pirate in the evacuation area._'

Samus moved through the corridor beyond, she stopped when she saw bits of debris fall from the ceiling. "The _guest_?" she whispered silently to herself. When she rounded the corner she was greeted by the automatic cannon fire of an auto-turret. '_Guess not…_' she stuck her arm cannon around the corner and fired at the turret with her beam cannon, it had little effect however due to the turrets extremely thick armor. '_Guess I'll have to use missiles._' her beam cannon then opened in a fan shape and a ball of white light flew forward leaving a blue trail behind. The light exploded upon contact with the turret, blowing it to pieces leaving only wires and sparks.

She left the hallway and came to a research area. She saw the giant test tube in front containing the floating half rotted skeletal corpse of another giant parasite queen. It was surrounded by the same computers, she had seen before she scanned them for Intel. The computers revealed the various stages of the phazon infusion process showing an increase in mass, length, and cellular stability of the skeletal queen.

One terminal held a personal log journal

'_Log 09.992.3_

_Zebes has fallen. All ground personnel are presumed dead. Either killed by the Hunter clad in metal or in the subsequent destruction of the underground facilities. Our research frigates Orpheon, Siriacus, and Vol Paragom were in orbit at zero hour and managed to retreat. Frigate Orpheon is now docked at Vortex outpost. Orpheon's cargo to have a 100% survival rate…_' Samus' eyes widened at the next sentence in the entry and immediately curled her fist in anger '_Metroids are healthy but on restricted feeding schedules due to uncertain supply status. We are ready to begin research on the Metroids and other promising life-forms._

_Security status remains at Code Blue: no signs of pursuit from the Hunter._'

"Fucking Space Pirates! They still plan to use the Metroids? Not if I can help it." Samus remembered how her home was decimated by the pirates alone. If they had mutated metroids helping them, the amount of destruction would be incomprehensible.

Samus saw a couple of holding cells across the room, '_More test subjects…_' as Samus moved closer she heard the hum of another turret. She side stepped the incoming shots and fired another missile at the turret effectively destroying it like the last.

She took note of the cells once again, they held various creatures from the surface of Tallon IV: parasites that are harmless unless encountered in large groups

A Plazmite, a firefly-like creature with an orb on its stomach

Next to it was a sealed blast door covering that shook violently from its occupant's insistence on freedom. The scanner revealed a creature with two large spiked platform legs connected by thin ligaments to an ovular body with pronged teeth. Its status read '_Phazon Level: unknown. Xenotropic life-form unstable. Use caution._'

Next to the test chambers was a report detailing a strength increase due to a particular batch of Phazon designated Batch 0732.C. Samus proceeded to an elevator and headed for the second floor, there she was greeted by a walkway littered with space pirate corpses and blood.

'_This has to be the guest's work._' Samus activated her scanning visor to see if she could identify the cause. '_Better see how well armed it is, wouldn't want to get ambushed._' The visor revealed that six of the seventeen pirates had been killed through the use hand-to-hand and melee combat showing that the _guest_ was well versed in close quarters combat and bolstered some melee equipment. Another ten bore the scars of energy weaponry, very similar to Samus' wave beam enhancement due to its controlled electrical nature.

The final one was probably the most interesting case '_Looks like he was electrocuted, but…there are no exposed wiring, and if he shot him with the same weapon then why is there still residual electrical energy?_' the corpse was still sparking even though it had been lying dead for three minutes '_…and why are the sparks black?_'

Samus noted the other test subjects for future reference:

The first cell had a blue spiked creature in it called a zoomer its body was litter in spikes, similar to a hedgehog.

The neighbor cell held a Plated Parasite Larva, its thick black, blood red spotted hide and large three pronged head easily distinguishes itself from its green counter-part.

The next cell read Toxic due to the amount of phazon it was injected with.

Another cell held a large wasp easily Samus' size and was dubbed the War Wasp. Down the line was just more of the previous specimens and holding cells with a more contained phazon reading.

One cell held a creature, much like the unstable Xenotropic life-form, its main body was tied to its toothed wings by small ligaments and was designated the Shriekbat. Its cousin was further down with less barbed wings, an aerodynamic blue and yellow pattern, and was dubbed the Ice Shriekbat.

She continued along the walkway and rounded the curve leading to the door at the end of the walkway. '_This should lead to an elevator. Looks like there's a turret guarding it…_' She opened the door to see that she was correct and missile the turret before it could activate '_Good, now let's head down._' the elevator lead to Deck Gamma and had a dead pirate leaned against a wall with severe lacerations no doubt caused by the guest. Samus enter the elevator, unlike like the last few this was not just a platform, it was a metal box with circular glass doors and rectangular windows. It descended at a slight angle towards the main chamber.

Once at the bottom the glass doors slid opened allowing its passenger to step out. Once Samus stepped off the elevator she was greeted by yet more parasites, a giant metal brown and red light blast door, and a Space Pirate dropping from the ceiling. This one was not injured however and swatted at the bounty hunter; Samus rolled out the way of the blow and brought her cannon to bear.

Before Samus could fire another figure dropped from the ceiling '_Reinforcements?_' the hunter thought the pirate had brought more friends, but the pirate seemed equally worried at the new arrival as it jumped away from Samus bringing its arm cannon to bear. _'This must be the 'guest' the pirates mentioned in their logs._' she rose from her crouching position but kept her cannon on the pirate while keeping the _guest_ in her peripheral vision.

The _guest_ stepped out into the light revealing it to be the same black armored figure from the still image. It looked like a tribal warrior with its platinum markings, and shimmering sapphire diamond eyes, but its tendrils and stance made it seem more like a specter than anything else. Samus noted the two split blade swords, black as space itself, hooked to its hips. The _guest_ looked at Samus then the pirate, who was still focused on him, and back to Samus.

"…And you are?" The armored figured asked, his voice a calm neutral tone with a slight amount of bass and light hint of a Caribbean accent.

Samus was dumbstruck by the guest's lack of sense as she heard his voice utter the question. She quickly recomposed herself "We can save the introductions for later." Samus stated bringing her beam cannon to bear. She concluded that if he was willing to ask her name, then he may be willing to ally himself with her.

"…very well." He drew one of his split blades and held it in reverse. He lunged towards the pirate who promptly ducked under the swing and rolled around behind him. The pirate was ready to open fire on the guest.

"Watch out!" Samus called as she was prepared to rescue the black armored figure. Suddenly Samus heard a _dreet, dreet, dreet _noise and the pirate feel to the ground with three glowing blue holes in its chest. The figure had shot the pirate at point blank range with a gauntlet blaster attached to his hand.

'_Who is this guy?_'

The figured turned towards Samus and began to move towards her. As he got closer, Samus felt a force come over her. One she had not felt since her first encounter with the space pirate leader Ridley, the gravity controlling Nightmare, or even the metroids themselves… Fear, but it wasn't of the figure, she didn't think it was at any rate. It was a more instinctual fear of the unknown, her body screaming at her to be cautious around this figure. She ignored it confident she could handle this _guest_ should the need arise.

"Is now a good time?" The figure stated in his stoic voice, it was calm, but reassuring the Caribbean accent lightening the tension. Samus knew he could be trusted; she is a very good judge of character.

"For what?" Samus replied with her own stoic and calm voice

"Introductions." the guest replied playfully

"Oh, okay. You want to go first?" Samus replied, note expecting the casual inflection.

"Ladies first."

"My, aren't you polite? I am Samus Aran. Most just call me Samus or Sammy."

"Cute. Well I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Isaac Gospel. My friends call me Spirit, though the voices of the Universe call me Okami."

Isaac reached his left hand out, since Samus' right hand was a cannon at the moment, Samus took his hand and shook it. She noticed it too bore a gauntlet blaster

"Nice to meet you."


	3. Chapter II

Bounty Hunter

Chapter II: Explosive Discovery

* * *

Era: Tranquil-Mystic Calendar

Cycle: 2548

Time: 16:23 Galactic standard time

Plane: Gamma

Location: Space Pirate Research Station: Gamma Deck

* * *

"So why are you here Isaac?" Samus questioned the armored man

"Investigating, like you I assume, and I found some troubling info."

"Same here, it looks like the pirates are doing Phazon experiments on various creatures from Tallon IV."

"I am not going to lie, I have no experience with this sort of thing. Space pirates and Phazon, I'm completely out of my element." Isaac taped on his left arm and a Holographic image formed showing various anatomical structures. "The anatomies of these creatures are so twisted and mangled I can't begin to imagine why the pirates would bother with this stuff."

"They must be making some sort of new weapon." Samus replied. She was all too familiar with the kind of tricks the pirates would use to gain an advantage.

"From the looks of things; all did not go according to plan." Isaac replied noting the partially corroded pirate corpse in the left corner of the room.

"They rarely ever do." Samus replied, she was usually the reason the space pirates plans went up in smoke "But we should discuss this in a more…civil location. We should get back to the matter at hand." Samus looked to the giant locked door in front of them.

"I see your point." He lifted his hand and a black bolt of lightning shot forth, striking the door to no avail as it harmlessly dissipated against the thick plating. "Well I'm out of ideas, what about you Miss Aran?"

"Just one, let me scan the environment first that should give us some clues." She activated her scanner and noted the two pirate corpses.

One pirate had lacerations to the abdomen and the other was missing its internal organs. "Did you do that?" she pointed to the mutilated corpse.

"Just the one with the cuts to his stomach, the other was probably eaten by the parasites you scared off." Isaac replied

"I see…" Samus scanned the large door and noted that it was out of power. There was a circular clamp on the floor that could hold her Morph Ball. "Looks like it is out of power, but I can get it running." Samus activated the panel, on queue the clamps hummed to life along with the door as it pulsed with orange energy.

"Looks like a spherical object will fit in there. Too bad none of us can roll into a ball huh." Isaac stated playfully as he noted their dilemma.

If Samus was not wearing her helmet Isaac could see her grinning widely. She walked to the clamps and rolled into her morph ball causing Isaac to stand motionless, his mouth a-gape behind his tendril helmet. Samus placed a bomb in her morph ball mode. Upon detonation it generated enough energy to disengage the locks on the large blast door making four panels slide out of sight, the blast door split into four sections and disappeared into the corners of the threshold.

Samus returned to her slender armored form and looked at the stunned Isaac "As you were saying?"

"…Nandemo nai (_Never mind_)…" He replied

"You know Japanese huh?"

Isaac was about to reply when they heard the sound of turrets humming to life. They dodged an initial volley of shots and destroyed the turrets with ease. They noted the room's similar design to the previous room with one difference, four pirate corpses instead of two. Samus scanned for the cause of death, she though already had an idea. One pirate was by the activation panel he looked to have struggled to get through to the door controls, another pirate had its face melted with acid, another had severe lacerations, and the last had Cranial Trauma.

"So _Doctor Aran_ what's the diagnosis?" Isaac said looking at the carnage before him.

"Same as the rest: Lacerations, acidic burns, blunt force to the skull…" Samus stated casually ignoring the joke.

"And a desperate attempt to seal that blast door." Isaac noted the dead pirate by the door control, its limp lifeless hand still gripping the console panel.

"Yeah…" Samus moved towards the panel as she began to explain the situation "I think that whatever he was trying to keep sealed behind that blast door…" Isaac began moving towards the door while Samus moved towards the door controls "…Is what killed the rest of these pirates."

"Which means that if we open this door…" Isaac placed his armored hand on the large blast door "…Whatever is behind it will add us to its body count." He replied

"Yep…" Samus said nonchalantly as she activated the door controls making the floor clamps to hum to life, as its twin did in the previous room. "The map says that behind this door is the stations reactor core, we'd better be careful."

"Well Samus…" Isaac turned and joined the bounty hunter in the center of the room "We best not keep our gracious host waiting."

"It's rude for guests to show up late to the party." Samus entered her Morph Ball and disengaged the locks on the blast doors. The door panels disappeared into the corners of the threshold and revealed a short walkway with pirate corpses on either side.

"The welcoming committee…they're spoiling us Samus." Isaac joked at the scaly bodies that lie covered in their own pale green blood, a salute of the fallen to the would-be challengers of their executioner.

"I'll say, looks like they've not been dead for very long. They still have a heat signature and all their blood has been drained from their bodies, probably for nourishment. Whatever did this is very dangerous…and I think I know what it is." Samus stated in a serious tone

They moved to the end of the walkway where a lift awaited them. The lift lowered twenty meters into a large cylindrical room with a suspended circular walkway that rose upward slightly halfway around. The walkway encircled a metal beam and hovered between the black abyss, above and below, with an orange glowing aura at its center. As the two hunters walked onto the walkway they suddenly felt the platform shake.

"Huh…that is not supposed to happen." Isaac stated, the platform shook violently again and again each time growing stronger and more frequent. "I think we're about to meet our gracious host."

Isaac readied his blades in case their host was overly friendly. Samus brought here arm cannon to bear and readied herself for whatever danger awaited her. The shaking kept growing until the duo could hear screeching metal and a mutilated banshee's scream from above them. They looked up into the dark ceiling, waiting for the source of the sound to reveal itself. They did not wait long since the source showed itself immediately.

Out of the abyss came a dark brown head and two razor sharp legs, it crawled down the cylinder in the center. The creatures mouth opened opened and the banshee's cry resounded through the cylindrical room as well as a green fluid. The creature dropped down onto the circular beam above, revealing its pale yellow underbelly and dark brown armored hide with sharp spikes protruding out of its sides. Samus recognized the creature from the various test tubes and the corpse on the evacuation deck.

"A Parasite Queen, saw this one coming." Samus said, her voice as serious as her hidden features

"A what?" Isaac asked he had never seen or heard of something like what was now staring at him with hungry green eyes.

"A Parasite Queen, it's what the Space Pirates were using for their phazon experiments. Be careful Isaac, it has acidic sacks in its mouth. One drop and you'll dissolve like a snail and salt."

Samus did not need to repeat herself since the Queen was drooling the green fluid from its mouth, a clear sign that it found the two hunters very tasty looking. The liquid melted the metal walkway as the droplets fell "I'll be sure to keep my distance." Isaac put away his blades and activated both his gauntlet blasters.

"I'll try for a scan for weak point so we know what we can hit."

"You'd better hurry then cause-" the Queen roared again slamming its sharp talon into the beam causing it to spark, sky blue lights fell to the beam below stacking on top of one another. "Let me guess. Shields?" an annoyed Isaac stated

"Looks like it." Samus stated less annoyed by the situation. The parasite queen opened its mouth and shot a green beam at the duo. They dodged to either side of the attack avoiding a potentially fatal blast.

"We know it can shoot lasers now! Hurry with the scan Samus!" Isaac said as he raised both arms and shot at the parasite only to have his sapphire bolts bounce harmlessly of the rotating sky blue barrier.

Samus placed her hand on her visor and began to scan the overgrown creature, revealing it to be a Parasite Queen, the only detectable weakness was its mouth. The scan picked up the presence of a potent mutagen.

"Isaac! Aim for its mouth, it's the only weak point on the queen!" Samus shouted at her accomplice who had managed to score a few direct hits to the underbelly of the queen through some gaps in the shield, most likely damaged from the queen's landing. The hits had little effect due the pirates bioengineering.

"I hear ya! But that's going to be difficult with the fact that it shots lasers from there!" Isaac shouted back

Isaac fired a volley of sapphires at the queen's opened mouth, causing the parasite to wince and howl in pain. It stabbed a sharp leg into the beam keeping itself aloft, hitting a circuit that caused the four sections of the sky blue shield to spin at a rapid pace making it difficult to shoot through the gaps temporarily as it slowed slightly to a more manageable pace before reforming.

Samus rushed over to Isaac "Let's split its attention between us we should be able to kill it quickly if we are far enough apart."

"Agreed, but be careful." Isaac replied

"Back at you." they split apart covering one fourth of the large walkway. The queen shot another volley of green energy at Samus as she sprinted up the ramp. She side stepped the beam and fired a shot at the queen's mouth again causing it to wince. Isaac followed with a barrage of blue energy that deflected off the rotating shield.

The queen struck the beam again as it turned to face Isaac and shot another stream of deadly green energy out of its mouth. The shield rotated furiously but it wasn't strong enough to contain the queen's energy blast as it tore through them. Isaac narrowly dodged the beam, but the beam grazed his foot. Samus was on the other side of the fight charging her arm cannon. She discharged the large mini sun forming at her cannons mouth striking the queen. The back of the queen's throat now burnt and seared from the combined fire power of the two hunters and its own energy beam had left the roof of its mouth tender.

Isaac regrouped with Samus as they looked at the tired form of the Queen Parasite. "I say one more shot should do." Isaac said as he held up his arm, it was glowing radiantly with green energy

"What happened to-" Samus started to question the glow emanating from Isaac's arm

"My suit is made of a very rare crystal known as the Soul Stone. It adapts to the one whoever breaks it, forming a permanent unbreakable bond between the two. My crystal absorbs energy from my body and the lightning it gives off. Thanks to that I can absorb almost any form of energy fired at me and store it for use."

"So when the queen hit your leg just now it gave you some energy to use."

"Yep, but it won't be enough to kill it since my foot wasn't in the beam for long."

"Then I guess I'll have to do the honors." Samus aimed her cannon at the queen and fired a charged shot at the queen's mouth. The resulting impact tore a hole in the back of queen's throat disorientating it enough to make it lose its hold on the beam causing it to fall into the reactor shaft.

The core spewed flames as the Queen struggled to reach the top of the shaft. It reached the top where Isaac and Samus were standing and gave one love acid filled roar before falling back in to be engulfed in flames.

The stations warning sirens started to blare as the Reactor started to go critical from the queens fall, making the room shake violently _"__EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY"_ a female voice sounded over the speaker. A support beam fell from the ceiling towards the two hunters.

"Samus look out!" Isaac shoved Samus to the side as he raised his emerald glowing arm and discharged an emerald beam at the falling hazard keeping it suspended in mid-air. Samus fired a missile at the beam knocking it out of place just as Isaac's borrowed energy ran out "Thanks for the save Samus."

"Just returning the favor, now let's get out of here before the station explodes." Isaac nodded and they proceeded through a door to the right of the lift. Samus' visor had a countdown timer reading _7:00:00_.

They proceeded up a flight of stairs and rounded a corner down a corridor, where they came to a lift. Samus activated the lift and they rose to another corridor that connected them to Biotech Research Area 1. When they made it through the door they found three pirates trying to contain a now conscious parasite queen hanging out of her stasis tank. A large explosion went off followed by a purple wave of energy killing the queen and the three pirate handlers.

The duo ran behind the destroyed tube towards the collapsed walkway where an injured pirate waited for them. Isaac beheaded the pirate while Samus shot another down the walkway. They headed for the far end where Samus' quarry once stood.

"The door is blocked by debris, the other door is out of power, and we five minutes and forty-five seconds till the station explodes! What do we do now?" Samus stated

"I don't know, wait for a miracle." On queue a large panel with orange glass exploded revealing a maintenance pipe.

"I'm starting to like you Isaac." Samus stated rather amused at the change in their situation.

"The feelings mutual, now let's move." Isaac replied playfully.

They jumped into the grey pipe and moved into a larger pipe with orange lighting and steam venting in from the overheating reactor. They jumped into another connected pipe where they were met with a swarm of parasites.

"I do not have time for this." Samus stated and fired a missile at the swarm vaporizing a large portion and dispersing the rest. They proceeded down another large pipe. An explosion occurred releasing another swarm of parasites that jumped onto Isaac and Samus, but exploded upon contact with the pairs energy shields.

"My turn…" Isaac's body began to pulse with black sparks. The sparks concentrated themselves to one of his split blades bounding between the twin bladed hilt. He swung the sparking blade releasing a wave of blue energy that vaporized the whole swarm. "Come on Samus we need to move."

"…Okay." Samus did not have time to ask about what she had seen. But once she got a chance she was going to find out who this Isaac was.

They continued down two more sets of identical tubing and through a large circular door with a blue glass covering and orange paneling. They kept moving and fighting through swarm after swarm of parasites looking for their next meal. They came to a pipe that twisted and turned till it came to another panel with orange glass that promptly exploded, revealing a short walkway with another panel that promptly detonated. The other side of the panel had another set of twisting corridors with bends that held several small orbs, probably wiring for the stations controls.

They came to another door that connected to a large cylindrical room with two security turrets. Samus quickly dispatched them with her missiles and moved to the circular door that connected to another set of twisting pipes that lead down to another cylindrical room that began swarmed with parasites. Deciding they did not have time to waste on parasites they went through the door to another set of pipes till they came to another circular door. On the other side was a large piston that thrust through the long tunnel at an alarming speed before slowly retracting back down the pipe.

"We should be careful with the timing." Samus stated. She poked her head out of the corridor and saw an entrance to another pipe next to where the piston came to rest before it built up enough force for another thrust deep into the pipe. She turned back to her armored compatriot "Okay Isaac I can see another pipe next to where the piston comes to a rest, when it comes back down the pipe we rush out and stay as close to the piston and the right wall as we can so we can duck into pipe before it crushes us against the wall."

"On your mark then Samus." Isaac replied waiting for the hunter to give the go ahead. Samus' visor now read _3:07:41_

The piston shot back through the pipe and slammed against the wall "Move now." Samus said as the piston began to move back down the pipe. They leapt out of the pipe and sprinted down the tunnel towards the piston, barely keeping pace. Isaac reached the entrance first and rushed in Samus leapt in after him, barely missing the piston by a foot as it slammed through the pipe again.

"Let's agree to never do that again shall we?" Samus stated

"I hear that!" Isaac replied. They moved through the pipes until they came to large blue rectangular room, two hundred meters long, filled with water, and across the way was the exit. "We're almost there behind that door is an elevator shaft that connects to the airlock. We can take my ship and fly to the planet's surface." Samus stated as she looked at the stations map.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's move!" Isaac replied

"We need to swing across. Do you have a grapple beam Isaac?" Samus questioned as she readied her energized grapple hook, designed to hang on to any think with a strong enough magnetic signature.

"No, but I can use my electrical energy to make something similar." Isaac replied

"That will do. We have two minutes and forty-three seconds before this place explodes."

"Then we'd better-" _"__Roar!"_ Isaac was cut off by a loud, blood curdling screech. The duo looked up to see a metallic Dragon, its yellow eyes bright with flame like the burning sun, fire bellowing from its mouth, its wings a bright yellow and taut like a glider.

"What the hell is that, some secret space pirate weapon?" Isaac had seen dragons before on his home word, but never one on this small a scale or this menacing. If it was not for the horrors that he had to endure as a child, he may have collapsed to the ground from the mere sight of the monster. He stood his ground and cast his fear aside ready to fight the monstrosity.

Samus was equally ready, but unlike Isaac she knew exactly what the monster before them was, though she wished her eyes were deceiving her. A long dormant fear began to arise within her at the sight of the very creature that had robbed her of her family, friends, and home.

"That, Isaac, is Ridley. The leader of the Space Pirates and the one responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people." Samus' voice remained neutral at the mention of the Pirate Leaders many deeds.

"_Hurragh_, Very good Samus." Ridley spoke with a low cybernetic boom in his voice. The voice of a leader with an iron-fisted rule "I'm glad you remember my esteemed reputation, or are you talking about your own experience." Samus did not reply. She refused to dignify the murderous leader's question with an answer. "The silent treatment is it? No matter, in about two minutes you and your friend will be nothing more than a pile of slag along with this station! Farewell Samus, we will not meet again!" With one powerful flap of his wings Ridley disappeared into the bright light of the ceiling.

"We have to move Isaac, now!" Samus activated her Grapple beam, mounted to the underside of her arm, flinging an iridescent purple-blue beam that latched on to a hook suspended in the air, swinging across the gap. At the height of her swing she released the beam and attached to another hook safely swinging to the other side.

'_Nice moves, but now it's my turn. Hope I don't screw up._' Isaac thought as he let his arms encase themselves in black sparks until they formed into a chain like form. The chain was not linked together instead it was just one long glowing wire with razor sharp wing like ornaments scrunched together. Isaac flicked his arm and the chain flew through the air attaching to the hook Samus had used, he swung through the air until he reached the second hook and swung across to the platform. At the height of his swing a piece of falling debris struck the final hook causing it to collapse almost bringing Isaac down with it. Isaac grabbed the side of the raised platform and attempted to pull himself up with Samus' help.

"Thanks again Samus." Isaac stated as they moved through the final door before the lift.

"Let me activate the lift so we can get moving." Samus asked

"Okay hurry, we only have about a minute and a half left before this place blows." Isaac replied urgently

Samus activated the lift, but not before hearing a loud thud. Fearing another parasite or pirate ambush she and Isaac turned to the source of the noise with their blasters at the ready only to be met by an explosion. The shockwave sent the duo flying down the corridor slamming them hard against the elevator wall. They collapsed to the floor as the blast dissipated.

"That was fun…" Isaac started as he shook his head "You alright Samus?" Isaac looked at the female bounty hunter to see her suit spark and flash a bright light. When the light faded Samus stood in a very light suit of armor. Her large circular paulders were replaced with sleek shoulder pads, her grapple beam was nowhere to be seen. The emerald green lights that lined her bodies had disappeared, and her chest plate that showed some definition to her womanly chest was slightly flattened to make her look like a man at first glance and her chest lights were replaced with a emerald green reverse _L_.

"What happened to your suit?" Isaac said as he and Samus rose to their feet. The elevator began to ascend.

Samus read her H.U.D. as the diagnostics began to inform her of her current status. "Looks like I've been crippled yet again." Samus stated. She was very annoyed by the thought of having lost her abilities yet again.

"Crippled?" Isaac wasn't sure what to think of the statement.

"My Varia Suit is offline leaving me with no resistance to extreme heat. My missile launcher, charge beam, grapple beam, morph ball and bombs have all been taken offline. What you see is my basic combat suit."

"So you're basically vulnerable?" Isaac summed up Samus' situation.

The elevator reached the top of the shaft "Nope, it just means the pirates have a chance to graze me." Samus took off towards the airlock with an amused Isaac in tow.

They exited the exploding facility with fifty seconds left before their impending demise. "We're almost there my ship is on the platform just ahead." Samus pointed to her ship in the distance.

"Looks like your helmet." Isaac commented

"I get that a lot now come on." They heard a loud howl. They turned to see the form of Ridley rising to the platform they stood on as he flew past them and headed towards the planet's surface, fully aware of Samus and Isaac's survival. "Let's hurry so we don't lose him." They ran for Samus' ship and leapt on board. As Samus engaged the thrusters on the ship to chase after Ridley Isaac could not help, but feel something greater at play.

The Hunter Class ship sped off towards after the burning form of Ridley as he descended through Tallon IV's atmosphere with Samus' ship following close behind.


	4. Chapter III

Bounty Hunter

Chapter III: The Next Move

* * *

Era: Tranquil-Mystic Calendar

Cycle: 2548

Time: 17:00 Galactic standard time

Plane: Gamma

Location: Tallon IV Over World

* * *

Samus maneuvered her Bounty Hunter ship through the harsh storm on Tallon IV's equator. In the rapid descent after the Pirate leader, Ridley, they had lost track of the metallic dragon in the ensuing low atmospheric electrical storm.

The ship shook violently as Samus tried to maneuver between stray sapphire bolts. Isaac did not have any time to find a seat in the bounty hunter ship before Samus began her anxious pursuit of her old nemesis. He stumbled inside the ship as Samus swerved and dodged through the atmosphere in a desperate attempt to reach the planet's surface. She decided that if she could not pursue Ridley to the Pirates surface research base, then she would find an obscure place to land so she could gain the element of surprise.

"You think you could fly a little smoother Miss Aran?" Isaac said as he stumbled towards the pilot seat where Samus was manually steering the ship. The manual controls consisted of an outlet for Samus' arm cannon, so she can control the weapons and thrusters, and a sky blue orb for steering.

"You want to get fried to a crisp by that electrical storm Mr. Gospel?" Samus rebuked as she made a sharp dodge to the left.

"Point taken, ah!" Isaac stumbled back as the ship shook once more

"We're coming in for a landing! Better brace yourself Isaac!" Samus made a hand sign in her arm cannon control and rotated the steering sphere in reverse to pitch the nose upwards so the four rotating thrusters faced the ground allowing the maximum force to be focused on deceleration. As the Amber bounty hunter ship approached the surface an enclosed plateau came into view.

Lush green grass atop soaked brown soil could be seen as far the eye could see. Five to fifteen meter high cliff faces all around the depression. The ship came to rest just in front of the tallest cliff face. The moment it stopped the still standing Isaac immediately slammed to the metal flooring of the hunter ship. "Ow." He said as he tried to rise.

Samus looked to her right to see the tendril helmeted man crash to floor "Ha ha, you okay Isaac?" Samus laughed

"Just peachy…" Isaac grunted as he rose to his feet "Where did we land?"

"Looks like some kind of depression. I can't give any accurate details due to the lack of exploration on this world." Samus replied, she rose from the pilot's seat and proceeded to the lift. "Looks like I'll have to look around if I am to have a chance of finding Ridley." The lift rose, revealing the landscape to her in great detail. She noticed three caves, one large directly in front of her and two smaller ones atop a series of small hills. There were large trees of unimaginable size all around the landing zone, multiple waterfalls cascading down mossy rocks pooling into a crystal blue creek just outside the larger cave.

Samus stepped off the ship allowing the platform to lower back into the ship's hull to fetch Isaac who quickly materialized on top of the ship. "Hold up Samus, I'm coming with you." Isaac called to the Amber hunter.

"Don't worry about me I can take care of myself." Samus called over her shoulder to the obsidian hunter.

"As if, you don't have any of your weapons not to mention your environment suit won't do much good in extreme temperatures." Isaac argued. He had a valid point Samus had lost all but her basic beam armament only ten minutes ago.

"I'll be fine, if anything I'll get them back later. I always do." Samus was stubborn when it came to stopping the Space Pirates "Besides you have no experience handling the space pirates or Ridley for that matter. You'd only slow me down." Samus' tone was harsh but she was not acting out of spite. She knew that Isaac was capable, but she did not know the extent of his abilities and did not want to risk him dying in a confrontation if he was not up to the challenge.

"That may be true, but you just said this planet has hardly been explored and that dragon thing obviously isn't the same enemy you faced before." Isaac shot back as he hopped down from the ship.

"And how would you know?"

"Because Delta found some Data in the room Ridley was staying in."

"Who is Delta?" Samus asked wondering about this new character

"My friend, he's an AI that resides in my suit. He found some Data on '_Meta_' Ridley as he is code named. Apparently his body has been reinforced with a Dura-Steel Alloy impervious to Destroyer class ship weapons and he has been upgraded with some lethal armaments. Delta is still trying to decipher the rest of the notes."

Samus thought over what Isaac was saying. True she could handle most any situation, even in her basic Combat Suit, she would prefer if Isaac did not come along for his own safety. She also did not know what to expect from the world of Tallon IV and the information on the new Meta Ridley would come in handy.

"…" Samus was weighing her options carefully in her head

"Samus?" Isaac questioned, he hoped that Samus would see reason and take him along.

"Okay Isaac, but you have to stick close to me."

"That's fine with me." Isaac walked over to Samus and took hold of her left hand and made his arm spark.

Samus Visor lit up for a second "Wha-" the light faded as a blue Icon, akin to a crescent moon being revealed from its southern pole with vine–like detailing covering it, showed on the top right of her visor.

"I opened an encrypted communications channel. Delta and I can talk to you in the event we need to separate for any reason and report any findings we have." Isaac's screen had an emblem that resembled a circle with a backwards Z through the center.

"_It also shows the vital signs of the both of you._" a cybernetic male voice said

"You must be Delta, it's a pleasure to meet you." Samus replied in a respectful tone.

"_The pleasures all mine Ms. Aran. I'll be brief since your mission seems very urgent. The emblems in the corners of your visors show if either of you are in a critical condition. The emblem will start off blue and eventually turn red depending on the severity of the situation. The system will need time to sync properly since the two suits are drastically different. I would advise close proximity to each other of at least ten meters for twenty minutes, any questions?_" Delta finished his long winded explanation. He had a hint of irritation in his tone at the notion of repeating himself.

"That should do Delta." Samus replied to the cybernetic voice in her head. She was a very fast leaner and rarely needed things repeated to her.

"_Very good Ms. Aran, now I need to get back to my analysis of the Meta Ridley Data. I will report when I have discovered more data._"

"Thank you Delta." Isaac replied "Before you go can you recommend a good starting point for our search."

"_Scans indicate that only one area is currently accessible for safe travel and for the safe retrieval of Ms. Aran's armament. If you head to the right of the ship into the cave you should come to some ruins. I'd recommend starting there._"

"Thank you Delta. Come on Samus, it's time you re-armed." Isaac jumped up the cliff with Samus in tow. The cave made a right turn with an opened cavity in the bend. The cavity was full of coarse sand, unlike the rest of the cave that was covered in soil and green sand with trees roots holding the ceiling in place.

"Well that is strange; this area is full of sand." Isaac stated

"I'm detecting some seismic activity below the sand. Something is moving down there." Samus stated analytically

"Well we have to get through here so whatever it is, we'll have to kill it if it's hostile." Isaac replied.

They stepped onto the sand and immediately the ground started to shake. The sand bulged and out popped four six legged creatures standing a fourth a meter high and long with an orange beaked face, four golden yellow eyes, blue exoskeleton hide that hooked over their elongated beaked face, and transparent wings like that of a common house fly. The creatures quickly turned to look at the two intruders, quickly moving right and left at high speeds before charging at the duo.

Isaac quickly jumped over the first two creatures landing in the center of the cave while Samus dodged to the right landing near the far wall. Isaac retrieved one of his split blades and held it along his forearm, figuring that one was more than enough to handle these bugs. Samus readied her beam cannon and scanner so she could log these creatures for future reference.

The pale blue and orange faced creatures turned to face their prey. And quickly dashed to the left and right again. Samus fire a volley of yellow orbs at two of them disorientating them while the other two rushed at Isaac. Isaac charged at the two speeding assailants moving faster than the two creatures could handle and swung his split blade horizontally at the one on his right cutting it into three sections with an extremely slim piece of flesh parting in the space between the twin black blades. He quickly pivoted and fired six quick sapphire bolts at the creature who past him on the left earning an agonized screech as it crumbled to the sand covered in pale green blood.

Samus fired another volley of yellow orbs at the remaining creatures causing one to explode from the superior firepower her beam cannon offered, it may have been downgraded but it still packed an explosive punch. The remaining creature charge her, but Samus leapt over the creature with the grace of an Olympic gymnast and fired three shots into its exoskeleton back earning another explosion of insect parts.

"What the hell were those?!" Isaac questioned as he replaced his blade on his hip

"That was a beetle." Samus explained matter of fact.

"That wasn't any beetle I've ever seen." Isaac stated

"This is an alien plant Isaac. Things are not the same as they are on our home worlds." Samus explained in a tone only an experienced bounty hunter could use. "This is why I said you should stay back and let me handle this."

"Still trying to get rid of me huh? Well no dice Samus, I started this adventure and I'm going to finish it. If that means having to deal with overgrown insects then that's a price I'll have to pay." Isaac stated cockily.

They moved through the cave after that and came to a large crevice that forked into two paths. The crevice itself was simply dazzling with an orange transparent globe tree. There were many rocky platforms lining a waterfall for access to the upper end of the canyon where a red zoomer waited at the edge of a drop off. A small creek ran through the center pooling at the base of the waterfall.

"Reminds me of home…" Isaac said under his breathe

"Samus did not hear the comment since she was in awe of the sight before her. Those thoughts were interrupted by the cybernetic voice of Delta

"_Sorry to interrupt your daydreaming, but scans show two potential paths, upper and lower. The upper path is currently inadvisable as to complete the current objective of bringing Ms. Aran back to one hundred percent. The lower path to the right would yield greater results._" Delta indicated a path that lead through what appeared to be a makeshift half pipe leading to a hexagonal door with a tree root protruding out of an old trunk.

They nodded in agreement and moved towards the door. Beyond the hexagonal door was a stone corridor over run by tree roots and little blue zoomers. Samus quickly shot at the zoomer as it moved up the wall but missed and hit one of the orange transparent trees. The tree exploded with enough force to reduce the zoomer to small chunks of flesh, ivory spikes, and green blood.

"Nice shot! How'd you know that tree would explode?" Isaac questioned as he moved to examine the remnants of the explosive flora.

Samus walked next Isaac "I didn't, but I detect trace amounts of volatile chemicals in this tree root. Interesting…"

"What?" Isaac asked curious to Samus' discovery

"It's a Sap Sac, a plant that was almost eaten out of existence until it developed this explosive defense mechanism."

"The miracle of nature, I am definitely impressed."

"We'd better be careful where we discharge our weapons." Samus replied

"Noted…"

They moved to another door at the end of the stone corridor. Beyond lay a large cargo elevator with bird like statues on either side of the circular pad. There were three rings in the back of the elevator to show how wide the lift was, given that it almost blended with the rocks around it.

"Wow…" Isaac stated in a lack luster tone as he moved to the bird statues "Someone sure likes their bird deity. I wonder what kind of people made this."

Samus recognized the statues from her childhood. She could not forget the architecture used by the same race of bird people who had raised her when her home was burned by the same monsters that now roamed freely on the surface of Tallon IV.

"Chozo…" Samus stated in a slightly surprised tone

"What was that?" Isaac replied not expecting an answer from the stoic bounty hunter

"This a lift created by the Chozo, a race of technologically advanced humanoid birds. They created this environment suit I wear. They have many colonies across the galaxy and were excellent warriors that helped to create the intergalactic government that shapes the policies of everyday life." Samus explained as she activated the lift controls and stepped into the orange hologram causing the lift to ascend at a rapid pace. "This lift should take use to a Chozo city."

"You seem familiar with these Chozo. I'm guessing you found this suit on one of your missions." Isaac stated

"No, it was a gift from them."

"Oh, so we can ask them for help in finding the pirate base and restoring your suit to full power."

Samus looked at Isaac in bewilderment. '_Is this guy serious? Doesn't he know the Chozo went extinct almost twenty years ago?_' She wasn't sure if Isaac was serious or really bad at jokes. "Isaac, the Chozo have been extinct for twenty years now."

"Oh, I had no idea. I'm new to this galaxy so I don't know too much about it."

The last comment caught Samus' attention "What do you mean '_new to this galaxy_'?" Samus asked

"How do you know the Chozo?" Isaac shot back

"…" Samus was not accustomed to sharing her past and made a point to avoid talking about it if it did not serve any purpose.

"If you don't want to talk about it then that is fine with me. Just don't expect me to talk about my past either."

The lift arrived at its destination. The two hunters were surrounded by weathered stone and sand. The weathered stone held several large circles of a darker color at evenly spaced intervals around the perimeter of the temple like area. Ahead of them was an indent in the stone wall with regular cave stone and a door.

"We're here. Beyond that door should be a Chozo city. With any luck I can find a terminal or statue to link with and get my missiles back at the very least." Samus stated as they moved through the door.


	5. Chapter IV

Bounty Hunter

Chapter IV: Explosive Ordinance

* * *

Era: Tranquil-Mystic Calendar

Cycle: 2548

Time: 17:31 Galactic standard time

Plane: Gamma

Location: Tallon IV Over World: Chozo Ruins

* * *

The cave exited into a sand filled courtyard with land stone obelisks showing a walkway to the temple that lay beyond, waiting for travelers to past through so it may test their might.

"I thought we were heading towards a city. This looks more like a temple than anything." Isaac stated as he moved towards the large structure.

"Chozo use temples city structures too so they can feel a since of calm when they go about their daily lives." Samus replied. She suddenly heard a loud beeping in her helmet and a map appeared on her main screen. "Well this is interesting…"

"You get a map covering your visor too?" Isaac asked as he stood motionless

"Yes and it is showing me a pentagonal room with what looks to be two entrances." The image was blue, showing that Samus had yet to enter the space while the courtyard was orange as well as system of orange leading back to her ship.

"It appears to be tilted maybe a disturbance in the ground from tectonic activity or the Chozo built it that way. What do we have here, a question mark?" Isaac said his curiosity clearly showing in his voice.

"That must be where Delta wants us to go."

"Well let's get a move on!" Isaac eagerly replied as he moved toward the temple only to be cut off by over grown beetles "Shit!" He jumped back to where Samus was standing. "The temple must be infested with these things!"

"Which means there is no one coming to aide us." Samus shot six mini suns at the beetles causing one to explode. Isaac fired three sapphire bolts from his dual twin barreled gauntlets making the last beetle crumple to the ground. "These things respond to sound and the shifting of the sand."

"Looks like we'll have to be careful where we step." They walked up a flight of stairs when Samus noticed a script atop the door.

"Isaac wait, I think I found something…" Isaac looked the writings on the wall above the door.

"Looks like gibberish to me." Isaac could not translate the script, but Samus could read it just as well as she could read basic.

"It says, '_The history of the Chozo stretches back into ancient times, so far into the fog of the past that we know not where our ancestors came from…'_

"You can read that?" Isaac looked at Samus in disbelief, he rarely found a culture he was not familiar with and to even rarer would he encounter someone with fluent knowledge he did not posses

"I know a lot about the Chozo they raised me since I was four and taught me their heritage."

"Oh, so the suit was a gift."

"Told you."

"Well what else does the script say?"

_"One thing is clear, however: the Chozo who colonized Tallon IV made conscious choice to eschew a civilization of advanced technology. We Chozo chose to live in harmony with nature, guided by the providence of the universe. We believe we will spend peaceful days here and plan to leave our worlds from time to time._"

"…A civilization with minimal technology. Sounds like my people…" Isaac stated solemnly

"Your people were like this secluded haven?"

"Yes, we Celestials prefer to live in harmony with nature and use technology for very menial things."

"Sounds tranquil."

"It was, now let's get inside the temple."

'_Was?_' Samus thought as she moved through the door that opened into a large courtyard.

"This temple has seen better days." Isaac commented on the crumbling structures around him and the various trees protruding from the once mighty temple one tree branch formed a walkway connecting two ends of the upper level.

"Like I said, the Chozo have been extinct for years."

"I'll take your word for it." Isaac stepped off the platform onto a small patch of withered grass as he looked up at the tall stone walls enclosing the courtyard. He looked around trying to find a way to advance when he noticed something strange about the current state of the temple "Something isn't right here…"

"What do you mean Isaac?" Samus questioned as she moved ahead towards a half-pipe like structure half-way through the courtyard. More beetles sprang from the ground which she and Isaac quickly dispatched having dealt with them enough at that point.

Isaac came up next to the sleek armored hunter and noticed an hexagonal door in an alcove to his left "I mean the trees, the bugs none of this could have been done in twenty years of oversight, and…" he moved towards the hexagonal door only to find it covered with an extremely thick plating, three flashing red lines, and a dot in the center where they converged. "… this blast shield."

"It looks like the pirates placed this here intentionally and recently at that." Samus stated

"They must want to keep something in…"

"Or someone out, either way we're not getting past this without some kind explosive."

"What a time to lose your missile launcher." Isaac said jokingly

"Not now Isaac…" Samus shot back "if we can't get through this now then we're back to square one. Let's find that tilted room." Samus turned for the half-pipe structure.

"Yes ma'am." Isaac replied playfully as they proceeded up a set of steps. They ran into another ambush of beetles that quickly met their end from Isaac's blue energy wave which he named 'Lightning Wave'. They noticed another alcove to the left; this one did not have a blast door so they proceeded through it into a large twisting pipe.

As the duo proceeded through the pipe they heard a high pitched screeching that got progressively louder as they moved further in. The source of the screeching eventually revealed itself as a black swarm of yellow dots moved along the wall causing the two to step back.

"What the hell are those?! More Parasites?" Isaac asked as he raised his arm blasters. The yellow dots dropped to floor easily numbering thirty and just remained still like knives stuck in wood.

"No, they're Scarabs. They're like Parasites in the sense that they're scavengers, but they don't actively attack as you can see." Samus explained with her arm cannon raised

"So they'll just sit there staring at us then."

"Yes they embed themselves in the floor and walls and wait for any threat to come close, but if we get to close they explode."

"The hell kind of defense mechanism is that?!" Isaac exclaimed

"Different world, different rules." Samus fired her arm cannon at the swarm of black scarabs causing them to explode in a tidal wave of blue blood. "Let's go, we don't have time to be held up by bugs." Samus moved through the blue goo that she had made. Isaac followed suit while taking a glance over his shoulder at the carnage behind him.

They moved through another door opening into a twisting stone hallway. As they moved into the first curve Isaac noticed a spherical structure on the wall to his left. Writing it off as a Chozo decoration he moved past it and caught up to Samus who put her hand out as soon a concentrated beam of green energy sliced in front of them.

"Do I even want to know?" Isaac's annoyance was very much apparent in his voice.

"They're Eyon's, they cling to walls and fire a beam of concentrated energy at anything that moves in front of it. We should be grateful they can't glance to the right or left even though they are made entirely of ocular tissue." Samus leapt between beam after beam of energy with little effort only firing one shot at an Eyon in the ceiling causing it to close its 'eye lid' Isaac did the same despite his armored appearance he was just as nimble and flexible as Samus.

After clearing the hallway of Eyon's they moved into a large stone room with more Chozo writings on a wall in the coroner. A broke slab acting as a make shift stair case and withered tree in the corner. The moment they step foot in the room more beetles rose out of the ground, but like those that came before they stood little chance against the hunters.

Samus eyed the scribbling on the wall covered in ancient alien writings that she was very much familiar with. "Chozo writings…" Samus unconsciously breathed out.

"Chozo writings, can you decipher it Samus?" Isaac questioned as he took a step next to her

"Yes, it says '_Many long years have passed since we Chozo first took root in this land. The passage of time has always been a source of fascination to us: It is the belief of many Chozo sages that the truths of the universe hide within the tumbling currents of time's flow. Even as we search for answers there, however, we find illumination in other, unexpected ways we know not how the ability has come to us, but recently many Chozo have begun to sense things beyond the realm of ordinary perception. Strange sights and inexplicable sensations flood our minds, filling us with visions. We take this growing ability to be a sign of our burgeoning harmonization with the infinite: perhaps, finally, the universe's secrets are becoming known to us_'" Samus recited

"Sounds like the Chozo found something they shouldn't have. And what do they mean by '_The universe's secrets are becoming known to us_'?" Isaac asked. He was used to way his own people shared cryptic metaphors and whimsical descriptions, but the Chozo were a whole other kind of whimsical.

"I'm not sure myself, but we should keep an eye out for these just in case." Samus had no idea as to what her adoptive family meant, but she was going to find out before drawing any conclusions. They jump on the broken slab of stone and jumped onto the crumpled walkway on the second level. Once on the second level they moved through the threshold on the second story they came to a room another room with an indent in the wall on the far side of the room and a giant wasp.

"Watch out Isaac that's a War Wasp. Their stingers are extremely poisonous and can cleave solid steel in two!" Samus exclaimed.

The large insect was a cobalt color with a glowing yellow bulb at the end of its elongated abdomen. It rushed the two attempting to cleave both their heads from their shoulders. They ducked out of the way just before the overgrown insect got its chance.

"Noted!" Isaac screamed as he threw his blade at the wasp skewering and impaling it in the adjacent wall. Isaac's arms suddenly sparked with his obsidian bio lightning, the bolts began to coalesce and form into several winged objects connected by a then glowing wire. "_Ten Chen_ (_Heavenly Chain_)…" he breathed under his breathe

He flung the Ten Chen, the winged lightning chain, attaching it to the chain dangling from the slanted hilt of his blade morphing the chain into the same winged shape. He jerked his arm back causing the winged chain to go taut as it pulled the blade from the wall leaving the still dying insect to fall to the ground. "I think I'll leave the chains on my Star Killer like this while we're here, could be useful in a fight." He caught the blade and placed it on his hip adjacent to its twin which he had morphed the chain on as well.

"How did you do that?" Samus asked wondering how he managed to change the structure of his weapon.

"All things have an electrical field some are easy to manipulate and some are hard…" Isaac began to explain as he moved to an entrance on a walk way a short drop form where they were. He moved through the door and proceeded through the corridor which lead into what appeared to be a meditation hall with an open skylight and pillars. "My blades, as well as my armor, are made from the same Soul Stone as my suit. I can manipulate that stone to become anything I want since it is tuned to my bio energy all I need is the right electrical signal."

Samus was impressed by the material Isaac used. It was very much similar to her Combat Suit in the way it adapts to any situation if the right upgrade is present "Convenient."

They reached the end of the meditation room where they found a room filled with toxic green water and fungus covering the walls. The flooring had given way leaving small plateaus of unsteady stone on the left side of the room to serve as a way across the toxic pool. "And me without my swimming trunks." Isaac stated in mock disappointment.

"I don't think the water has been shocked properly." Samus replied matching Isaac's joking tone "What could have done this to the water, it isn't natural."

"You think it may be waste from the pirate's experiments?" Isaac added

"I highly doubt it. The Space Pirates would try to keep any Chozo facilities they find in perfect condition so they could get any weapons knowledge they could out of it. I wouldn't be surprised if they were trying to build they're version of this environment suit." Samus motioned toward her suit "No, this came from something much worse than the pirates."

"Maybe we'll find something on it when we reach our destination."

"Let's hope so." Samus started hopping across the stone pillars to reach the other side while Isaac simply leapt across the chasm. Samus shot a 'was that necessary' look.

Isaac's only reply was "I prefer to move quickly." And kept moving through the door where he found a dark tilted hallway with a floating light flittering through the air "Fireflies?"

"It's called a Plazmite and it can fire that light as a projectile if it feels threatened, let's keep moving we should be getting close if the area is tilting like this." Isaac followed Samus' instructions and moved through the dark tilted corridor avoiding any fights with the harmless plazmite. They moved through the corridor and came to a tilted room filled with the toxic water and a living weed called the Tangle Weed that only slowed anything down that got caught in its vines. They moved through another twisting corridor until they came to their destination.

They heard a beeping noise in their helmets "_You have arrived at the source of the seismic disturbance I was detecting._" Delta chimed in. the roomed had water in the left corner where the tilt had forced gravity to pull it. The walls had various Chozo statue heads mounted at even intervals with the mouths hanging open. In the center an elevated platform connected by a walkway by what appeared to be an ovular shrine with Chozo heads on the four corners of the object.

"Well Delta can you tell us anything about this room or the data on Meta Ridley?" Isaac asked as he and Samus hopped down from the platform they were standing on.

"_As far the structure, my sensors have detected multiple heat signatures residing inside. I'm sure you've noticed the toxic water below._" Delta started in a condescending manner

"Yes we have, do you know what it is or what is causing it?" Samus chimed in moving towards the bubbling pool of dangerous green fluid.

"_From what I can tell Ms. Aran the water is poisonous to most forms of organic matter, but it is extremely corrosive even with both your environment suits you'd only be protected for little more than five minutes, less so with Ms. Aran's handicapped form._"

"Thank you Delta and please call me Samus."

"_Very well… Samus, I have finished deciphering the Meta Ridley data and as you know the Leader of the Space Pirates has been augmented by a Dura-Steel Alloy. He has also been regenerated from a devastating defeat at the hands of a bounty hunter named Samus Aran._" Isaac looked at crimson torso hunter to his left "_The pirate scientist in charge of the project wrote that all that was left of the leader was his torso, half of the left wing and tail, the right bicep and leg, and half the lower jaw even then his body was far from recognizable._"

"I think you went a little overboard Samus." Isaac stated.

"If you knew what that bastard has done you wouldn't be thinking that." Samus stated bitterly as she came visor to visor with her platinum marked armored counterpart.

"…"

"_At any rate, it seems that his ability to breathe fire has been augmented to discharge blasts of pure energy instead, his talon and tail have energy emitters built into them making close range combat inadvisable, his wings are made of pure energy instead of webbing, and finally energy missiles. From the looks of things the armor augmentation is meant to regenerate his body while allowing him to effectively lead the Space Pirates._"

"He's tenacious if anything." Isaac sighed out as he moved around the tilted platform looking for a way to climb up.

Samus followed behind him and placed her amber armored hand on his sleek platinum marked obsidian shoulder gaining his attention. "Isaac…" She began calmly, but firmly "if you're going to work with me then you need to understand one thing, Ridley is a murderous sociopath who will kill anything and anyone that gets between him and his ambitions. You can't reason with him and you can't let him live or you will regret it." her voice never wavered in her warning.

Isaac knew Samus was serious and he knew Samus was speaking from a deep seeded experience that her emerald visor tinted eyes hinted at. "…Very well, I will keep that in mind should our blades ever cross."

"You'd better…" Samus continued around the platform till she found a broken staircase. "Here's our way up Isaac, come on." Isaac followed suit as they reached the top of platform.

"Hey take a look at that." Isaac pointed at a floating magma red object with orange neon giving it a radiant glow. "What do you think it is?"

"I think it may be a piece of my arsenal." Samus stated with a hint of excitement in her voice

As Samus made a move for the floating object the room suddenly shook as the Chozo heads on the wall filled with the sound of flowing water. The water that came out of the Chozo idols was the same toxic green fluid that the duo had run into throughout the depths of the temple.

"Looks like this fluid is everywhere…" Isaac said as he backed away from the slanted edge of the platform. The toxic green water swallowed the walkway whole and engulfed part of the platform they were standing on.

"It may be responsible for the withered appearance of some of the plants." The platform containing the glowing object rose slowly as the ovular shrine descended, the platform revealed four beastly faces on the perimeter.

The ovular shrine started to hum furiously with the sound of buzzing "I don't think I'm going to like this part." Isaac said as he retrieved both his split blades from their resting place. The buzzing kept getting progressively louder until the shrine opened its beaked mouth. The buzzing resounded throughout the room as a dozen giant Red War Wasps poured through the opening. "Great! More bugs!" Isaac's annoyance peaked at the discovery of the new enemy

"Be careful Isaac, these are Ram War Wasps." Samus cautioned reading the bio on the creature

"What's the difference?!" Isaac sliced a charging red War Wasp in two

"These Wasps guard the main hive and prefer to circle their prey so they can disorient it and they can't use their venom as a projectile." Samus shot two more wasps causing them to explode into a mix of flesh and green blood upon contact. The wasps started circling the platform at blinding speeds occasionally one would stop to prepare for a charge only to meet an explosive end as a yellow sun fired from Samus' cannon connected with its carcass.

Another wasp made a swipe at Samus' back. Isaac parried the attack using speed equivalent to the element he controlled forcing the rushing insect to stagger back in a daze. Isaac brought his other blade down on the dazed insect slicing it in half.

"Samus, it looks like they attack in groups of four or less. If you shoot the ones that stop their circling I can get the ones that charge us."

"Sounds like a plan." The last four suddenly stopped and readied their rush. Samus shot two of them down before the remaining two charged in where Isaac cut them through their abdomen throwing the slicing stingers off course.

The shrine opened its mechanical mouth again and emitted a loud screeching noise. Samus heard the sound of buzzing underscore the screeching noise and immediately fired a volley of yellow energy into the opening until the mouth slammed shut the shrine had other plans however, as it rotated to one of the remaining three mouths opening wide to release another dozen wasps.

"Isaac! That shrine is a Hive Mecha; it sends a high pitched frequency through a pipe towards the main hive. It looks like the wasps have to move a short distance before exiting the mouth." Samus shot three wasps that stopped for a charge.

"So we shoot the mouth when it's opened during that period of time!" Isaac sliced three more wasps that rushed them.

"Exactly so concentrate on the Mecha when we get done with the wasps."

The remaining seven wasps spun in opposite directions in order to confuse the two hunters. Two stopped in front of Samus only to be obliterated by her beam cannon. Three more rushed at Isaac only to have their stingers broken in two. Isaac cut two of them in half while the third recoiled from the pain of losing its stinger and fell into the toxic water below. The acid water slowly ate the away the wasps' carapace and internal organs until it was reduced to a steaming liquid that dissolved into the rest of the toxic water. The remaining two wasps were electrocuted by a bolt of lightning Isaac fired to stun the two creatures long enough to have them fall into the toxic pool below.

The insect spewing machine opened its second mechanical mouth screaming its War Wasp summoning cry only to be overwhelmed by multiple mini suns and uncountable volts of obsidian electricity. The shrines mouth quickly clasped shut quickly rotating to the next battle ready opening and sent in the next platoon of wasps towards their targets.

"How many are there?!" Isaac said as he severed two more Ram War Wasps from their bulging red abdomens.

"Just this one and the last mouth and the Mecha should overload!" Samus shot down four War Wasps who were still circling the platform. She was getting better at predicting their movements, but she knew she shouldn't risk it since a wasp had charged at her from the left. If Isaac had not skewered the overgrown insect she may have been critically injured.

Isaac threw the shish kabob wasp into the path of the remaining three wasps causing them to plummet to toxic waters. The third mouth on the shrine opened and the two hunters fired into the opening making the mechanical mouth clasp shut. The Hive Mecha rotated to its last crying mouth to release sixteen Ram War Wasps instead the twelve the tired hunters had gotten used to. Samus fired a volley into the opening killing the last three wasps that were passing through the opening.

"Nice shot Samus!" Isaac exclaimed as he parried five attacking War Wasps. He managed to break two stingers causing the recipient wasps to fall into the toxic waters, but he only cut one in half. The remaining ten wasps circled in three rows making the hunters extra aware of their surroundings.

As the standoff continued Isaac managed to kill two more wasps while Samus downed three. Samus ducked under a war wasp that blindsided her only to come face to face with three charging wasps. She had no time to react before the wasps' stingers pierced her armor. Her mind blurred as darkness engulfed her vision.

'_Am I dead?_' Samus thought, but she heard a loud agonized scream. She looked up to see Isaac hovering over her crouching form with three stinger tips protruding from his torso. The crest in the corner of her visor flashed green then orange as his vitals dropped to dangerous levels "What are you doing?!" Samus screamed at her rescuer.

Isaac did not reply he only raised his arm and fired at the remaining wasps who were preparing another strike at the amber hunter. His sapphire bolts burned holes into their translucent wings causing them to lose their lift and plummet to the toxic pool. The wasps in his back tried to retreat from his wounds only to be stopped by Isaac's hands grasping onto the protruding stingers. Isaac quickly twisted his body snapping the stingers in two. The shock of losing their stingers coupled with slamming into each other caused the remaining wasps to fall into the toxic waste.

Isaac fell to the ground as he pulled the broken stingers out of his injured body. Blood spilled out of the wound as he gasped for air.

Samus rushed to his side as he clutched his injured chest. "You Idiot! What were you thinking with that stunt?!" Samus chastised him

"I was trying... _hah, haah..._ to improve our odds... _hah, hah_... of survival…" Isaac stammered out. The toxic waters receded to their original level and the Hive Mecha retreated into the ceiling lowering the glowing object to a reachable height.

"How does you getting skewered increase our odds of Survival?!"

"Simple Samus…" Isaac breathed deeply as his body became encased in black sparks. The sparks started flashing and striking the wounded areas regenerating the split tissue and muscle. The crystalline armor followed suit as it was repeatedly attacked by the sparks until it looked as if it had never been worn. "I can regenerate muscle tissue and my armor." Isaac rose to his feet only to quickly stumble down again. Samus caught him before he struck the flooring.

The crest in Samus' visor returned to a green glow indicating that Isaac was no longer in danger of dying from his wounds, but he was not in a fighting condition. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine I just can't regenerate blood is all. Now let's get that armament." They moved to the raised platform containing the glowing item. Samus jumped up on the platform and pulled Isaac up with her so he was lying on his back with his legs dangling over the edge of the platform.

Samus eyed the glowing object and noted the familiar shape of a rocket. "Good news Isaac. I got my Missile Launcher back." She walked up to the object. The Rocket levitated in the air until it was level with her crimson plated chest. Her beam cannon began to glow yellow as it welcomed the familiar energy of the glowing explosive. She raised her arm cannon in a firing position and the rocket slowly rotated itself so it was horizontal with the beam cannon. It slowly maneuvered itself into the familiar opening making Samus' cannon spark with various sparks of orange, purple, and yellows. An icon to the left of her screen lit up that read _5/5_.

"That's, ugh, one down right Samus?" Isaac grunted

"Yep, only the Morph ball and bombs, charge beam, and the Varia Suit then I'll be fully restored."

"That's good…" Isaac noticed another plated door in the wall behind the altar "Why don't you test the rockets on the door there."

Samus turned to the blast covering and raised her arm cannon. She braced herself for the inevitable kickback that was to hit her. The metallic teal cannon opened into four fan shaped panels and the familiar white light shot forth from the barrel trailing a blue drape as it did. The blast covering had little chance once the light connected decimating the plate. She proceeded through where she found an alcove one meter in diameter and a blue container.

"An energy tank? This could prove useful." Samus reached out her hand and absorbed the capsule into her suit. The capsule served to boost her shield capacity. She heard two loud thuds and ran back to the shrine room to find Isaac staring at the door they used to enter the room. "What happened Isaac? I heard a loud thud."

"That…" Isaac pointed at two large stone blocks that had fallen from the ceiling. "They must have shaken loose from the fighting earlier. So what did you find in the room?"

"An energy tank, it boosts my shields so you don't have to risk your neck for me again."

"That's good… shit was painful enough the first time" Isaac added jokingly

"We should keep an eye out for more of them as well as missile expansions so I can carry more missiles at any given time."

"Okay, ugh!" Isaac tried to stagger to his feet but failed as the fatigue from regenerating and the wounds inflicted on him earlier. The process did little to dull the pain. Samus helped him to his feet Draping his left arm over her shoulder so they could still fight if they were to be attacked by more bugs.

"Come on _hero_ let's get back to the ship so you can recover."

"No need Samus lets head to that sealed door in the courtyard. We should find something there if we're lucky." Isaac insisted

"I don't think so. You are too injured to be of any use in a fight." Samus replied firmly

"That's a chance I am willing to take." Isaac replied just as resolute

"Isaac…" Samus started

"Samus please. We need to get you back to a hundred percent before we run into Meta Ridley again and if that means I have to limp around for a few minutes then so be it. I can still hold my own and if you give me till we get back to the courtyard I should be able to walk again." Isaac turned to look the female hunter in the eye

Samus could see he was serious about getting her back to fighting form and he was not going to take no for an answer. "…Okay, but you have to take it easy. Judging from the way Ridley took off towards the planet he isn't at a hundred percent either so we have some time."

"_That is correct Samus…_" Delta chimed in "_Meta Ridley is still recovering and adjusting the Dura-Steel Plating and armaments. By my estimates he won't be able to fight for about a week so we have some time to prepare and even though you won't heed my advice Spirit. I recommend you at least follow Samus' instructions and be careful._"

"Yes _Mom_, now can we leave this place I'm getting tired of this sickly lighting." Isaac whined at the double teaming

"Yes…" Samus helped Isaac over the two stone slabs and back through the chamber door.

They headed to their next potential upgrade for Samus and hoped it would not be as trying as the missiles.


	6. Chapter V

Bounty Hunter

Chapter V: Morphing Circumstances

* * *

Era: Tranquil-Mystic Calendar

Cycle: 2548

Time: 18:32 Galactic standard time

Plane: Gamma

Location: Tallon IV Over World: Chozo Ruins

* * *

Samus meandered through the ancient ruins of the Chozo with the injured Isaac slung over her shoulder. After the fight with the Hive Mecha they managed to find an old map room and expansion for Samus' missiles. They moved back into the courtyard with the same passage they had used to enter.

"Ugh, looks like we made it…" Isaac breathed out as he eased himself off Samus' shoulder and struggled to walk by himself.

"Are you sure you're alright? I don't need a corpse slowing me down." Samus half joked.

"Perfectly!" Isaac rebuked with a playful flex before falling to one knee with a pained grunt.

"Uh huh…" Samus replied.

"A minor setback, I should be okay in a few minutes. I've already stopped the bleeding; now I have to wait for my muscles to knit together." Isaac staggered to his feet and inhaled deeply. "Now let's check out that shrine." Isaac started walking back towards the shrine. Samus had a skeptical look in her eye as she watched Isaac limp slightly down the stone block stairs.

'_This is why I prefer to work alone…_' Samus thought.

When they reached the shrine door Samus immediately fired her recently acquired missile launcher at the plated door. The white light shattered the plate in an instant exposing the doorway into the once sealed shrine. They proceeded into the long pipe-like hallway obliterating two suicidal scarab swarms that had taken refuge inside the long abandoned passageway. They exited the tunnel to see some stones that made makeshift steps up to another half-pipe like structure, the surface covered in plate metal. They stepped on top of the structure to see a large vertical room. The room was made out of sand stone with coarse sand flooring and blue orbs occasionally spaced on the walls giving the room a fluorescent blue glow.

There was a protrusion in the wall near the ceiling directly in front of them that gave off a dull amber glow. The ceiling itself had roots growing out of it and snaking along the walls, some walls had collapsed from an invasion of tree roots. What caught the two Hunter's interest was the indention in the wall just below the protrusion. A glowing purple sphere with dark amber plating, the blue light darkening its shade, the center glowed a brilliant shade of violet giving the sphere its glow.

"There's our next target, Isaac." Samus said pointing out the glowing sphere to her crouching obsidian companion. Isaac was still adjusting to the rapid healing process as his muscles still mended themselves.

"May I ask what that is?" Isaac said; his voice slightly fatigued.

"The Morph Ball, I can tell just from looking at it." Samus explained.

"You mean the thing you used to open those blast doors back on the research station? Why would it be in a shrine?" Isaac concluded slightly confused.

"More than likely, it will be a test. The Chozo have a philosophy of earning what you get." Samus replied.

"Well if it is a test, I would think it best if I stay here. You don't need to worry about me while taking a potentially dangerous exam. Not to mention my powers are drained so I can't give you cover fire." Isaac knew he would only slow Samus down in his current condition and if they wanted to start investigating the Pirates' intentions on Tallon IV then they would need to move as fast they could.

"Okay, just sit there and heal as much as you can. This shouldn't take long." Samus hopped down from the half-pipe structure leaving a sparking Isaac behind to heal his muscles since he could not heal and move in his current state.

Samus approached the alter where her Morph Ball upgrade was perched, tempting her from atop its holy pedestal. As Samus reached the threshold of the wall's indention the ground began to shake violently making the walls shed ancient withered dust and sand from the force of the shaking.

Suddenly the ground opened up with a dozen small holes in the sand and the orange beaked beetles spawned from their coarse borrows. Samus wasted no time in shooting three of the beetles, making them explode in green blood covered chunks. Samus leapt out of the way of a charging beetle and fired on another that was in the midst of its charge towards the amber Hunter effectively decimating a third of the beetle horde in less than ten seconds.

Samus readied herself for the next round of charges when the ground began to shake violently again and four more beetles sprang from the ground putting the horde back to full strength. "_Nothings ever simple is it Samus?_" Samus heard Isaac's voice cut in over her helmet's communicator.

"Nothing I'm not used to." Samus stated simply as she started firing on the rejuvenated horde killing beetles as they came near. She occasionally dodged a beetle that managed to get close enough to her to attempt a bite at her leg or fire a missile into the center of a group that had bunched together; with every kill the veteran hunter managed, another group of beetles sprang up from the ground to replace it. Isaac would occasionally fire a sapphire bolt to disperse the crowd allowing Samus to dodge out of the way of potential danger and regain her footing.

Soon Samus had managed to exhaust the hordes numbers as well as her missile ammunition as she was down to her last five shots out her ten possible shots. She only had three beetles left to kill, the coarse sand now soaked in pale green blood and chunks of blue and orange flesh from exploded beetles. Samus readied herself to kill the beetles and claim her prize only to be interrupted by the ground shaking in protest.

'_What now?_' Samus thought in an annoyed tone as she felt the vibrations through her armored suit. The center of the corpse filled battlefield opened up swallowing a portion of the shattered corpse pile before the chunks exploded outwards in a geyser of sand, blood, and flesh.

When the debris faded a lone figure was standing in the center of the bloody arena. It was a black creature with an insect like carapace and long, black, bug-like wings that curved to a point like small katanas. Its face was a shiny substance that curved into five one foot long spikes in a pentagonal pattern and a long three foot long spike on the underside of the mirrored surface. Its abdomen was a large orb that was red on either side of the orb.

'_This should be interesting._' Samus thought as she attempted a scan at the creature, only to discover its swift agility as it sidestepped from side to side at the same pace as a beetle's charge, it then lunged at Samus much faster than its smaller blue brethren. Samus sidestepped the attack, narrowly avoiding the large prong on its face.

"_Samus, I'll have Delta run a scan on that thing, you just focus on fighting it until we can figure something out._" Isaac's voice called in over the radio.

"Understood." Samus brought her cannon to bear as she readied to fight the last three beetles as well as their new found ally. Samus opened fire on the shinning surface of the new insect, her yellow orbs hurdling toward the shimmering face of the black creature. Samus then dodged to the side avoiding a charging beetle that had moved behind her. Samus cart-wheeled on her amber clad left hand and prepared to fire on another beetle to her right only to find one of her yellow shots from earlier strike the beetle and cause it to burst into chunks.

"Wha?" Samus breathed out as she landed on her feet with her cannon pointed at the beetle she just evaded.

"_Samus…_" Delta's cybernetic voice came in through her helmet comm. "_I finished scanning the creature that just appeared and checked it with a few files in your Chozo database._"

"What did you find?" Samus asked as she gunned downed the last two beetles, leaving the black creature by itself. Usually she'd be pissed at the idea of her suit being hacked, but Delta never tried to get anything important from her, instead the cybernetic man gave her info that has proven useful so far.

"_It is called a Plated Beetle, real original I know, but it would appear that the glimmering surface that comprises its face is resilient to most forms of projectile slugs and can deflect any energy based weaponry aimed at it, including your missiles._" Delta explained.

"_Basically we can't hit it head on._" Isaac cut in."_If I could move I'm sure my blade could cut through it."_

"_Unlikely, from what I can decipher that beetle's armor has been reinforced by... something, possibly whatever is polluting the water. Even if you could move Spirit, it would be unlikely that you could cut through it._" Delta replied.

"So where does that leave me?" Samus asked.

"_I suggest you aim for the red orb on its abdomen. It looks like all the nerve endings rooted through there as a result of the armored mutation._" Delta advised.

"Can do." Samus leapt over the black beetle and readied to fire on the large red target. The beetle rotated sharply hiding its red weak point from the amber clad hunter. The beetle then side stepped to its left then to its right '_Must be an advanced hunting tactic._' Samus mused in her head as the beetle did not rush the hunter immediately after the swift movements, unlike its smaller brethren.

Samus decided that it would be best not to waste energy with extraneous movement so she slowly strafed around the plated beetle. She made no attempt to fire on its glimmering surface as it would be a waste of time and missile ammunition, she simply waited for the beetle to rush her so she would have a clear shot at its bulbous rear. Samus did not wait long as the Plated Beetle performed its sidestepping hunting tactic before it surged forward with its six pronged face.

Samus somersaulted over the black creature and fired a volley of miniature suns at the exposed red orb. The balls of energy struck home as they assaulted the weak spot to the large beetle's discomfort as it let out a high pitched shriek.

Samus continued to fire on the red orb, its hide proving to be resistant to her attacks. '_For a weak spot, it sure can take some punishment._' Samus thought. The beetle whipped around to bring its mirrored face to bear, reflecting Samus' amber image in its glimmering surface. Samus ceased her assault on the armored beetle as four of her shots flew randomly around the arena, one almost striking Isaac in his shoulder.

Samus once again waited for the beetle to turn its back to her with a charge. The beetle crawled towards Samus with its six spindly legs. It made a swipe at Samus' legs with the elongated prong on its lower surface. Samus jumped over the swipe and back-stepped from the creature, the creature lunged again, attempting to close the distance between its prey a fatal mistake as Samus leapt over the Plated Beetle giving her a clear shot at the red orb. Samus wasted no time in firing another volley of yellow orbs at the creature making it wince once again in agony. The last shot Samus fired seemed to daze the beetle allowing Samus to fire one of her missiles at the red target. The white concussive ordinance was enough to destroy the red orb and let loose a flood of green blood.

The Beetle shrieked one last high pitched cry as its legs stiffened in agony to raise it off the ground before it collapsed to the ground, dead. '_That was more annoying than anything._' Samus thought to herself as she crossed back to the half-pipe platform with the still recovering obsidian clad hunter perched atop it.

"Well that was definitely a spectacle. Even with your downgraded form, you can still handle yourself against a horde of enemies." Isaac commented.

Samus could tell that he was smiling behind his black oval shaped helmet. "It may have been a horde, but it was just a bunch of feral bugs. I doubt Ridley will use such primal tactics on us." Samus replied playfully, earning a chuckle from her injured partner. "So how are you holding up? You think you can fight again or are you still going to be a burden?" Samus questioned Isaac in a playful tone, it held a stern undertone to let Isaac know she was still serious.

"I think so. I doubt I can pull any melee combat for a while longer, but I can feel my power building again so I can use my gauntlets at full strength, albeit sparingly." Isaac replied.

"Okay, then I'll get the upgrade and then we'll leave." Samus turned to the face the alter that the violet aura amber sphere rested on. The stairs had long sense crumbled at the base of the stone altar, but the debris left a makeshift platform for Samus to step on. The wall behind it was covered in Chozo writings, words of wisdom as it seemed to Samus.

As Samus reached the glowing sphere she felt her suit react. She heard it make a low pulsing hum as an unseen force lifted her off the ground, pulling the hunter towards the large glowing sphere. The sphere's two hemispheres moved away from each other, until they touched the enclosed alcove that they resided in, allowing the hunter to float between the two half spheres. Samus rotated so she was facing the blood soaked arena, she saw bright violet particles encase her emerald visor as they past back and forth in front of her.

Isaac saw the ordeal transpire in front of him as he watched Samus float off the ground in between the two orbs as well as the violet particles that spewed forth from the opening of the spheres. "Beautiful…" Isaac breathed out. "How long has it been since the last time I saw this sight?"

"_The day Chaos died, remember?_" Delta answered solemnly, killing Isaac's mood.

"Thanks for reminding me Delta…" Isaac replied sarcastically. He continued to look on at Samus' suspended form as she continued to be partially bathed in the violet particles. Samus then curled her legs to her armored chest, wrapped her arms around them in a fetal position, and began to front flip rapidly until her form created an after image from the quick rotations. The two half sphere's slammed together, encasing the female hunter in her familiar Morph Ball form. The form turned her body into pure orange energy so her body would not be contorted in an uncomfortable manner even with her Chozo infused DNA.

Samus unfurled from the mode with a yellow glow, stepped off the altar, and moved towards the half pipe platform. "That's another one down. Just three more armaments and I should be back at a hundred percent." Samus said as she looked up at Isaac.

"Well then, let's go find those last four upgrades. The sooner the two of us get back to full strength, is the sooner we can start planning to sabotage the Space Pirates." Isaac replied

"Agreed, can you help me get up?" Samus asked looking at the elevated platform. It was too high for her to jump over and she could not pull herself up with only her left hand.

"Maybe…" Isaac held out his platinum marked armored hand. "Here, give me your hand." Samus took his hand as he prepared to pull the amber hunter up. As he pulled he felt a tear on his back and the crescent icon in the corner of Samus' visor changed from teal to green, indicating Isaac's drop in vitality.

"Whoa!" Samus exclaimed as she saw the sudden change in Isaac's health. "Never mind, I'll find another way up." Samus released Isaac's hand, not wanting to undo any progress Isaac had made in his healing process and looked around until she saw a hole in the wall big enough for Samus to use her Morph Ball to roll through. "Perfect." Samus said just below a whisper.

Samus approached the hole and felt her body become engulfed in a yellow light as Samus felt a familiar warmth engulf her body as she curled into the fetal position before her body transformed into the Morph Ball. The ball then rolled into the opening through the metallic tunnel leaving a yellow trail behind it. Isaac got up and stepped down the stone slabs that made the makeshift steps to the half-pipe structure to see the Morph Ball emerged from the tunnel opening.

Samus unfurled from the Morph Ball "Didn't your Morph Ball glow blue instead of yellow?" Isaac asked as the pair moved back through the tunnel to the main courtyard.

"That's because I don't have my Varia Suit. The blue hue shows that the suit can enter extreme heat areas." Samus explained as they re-entered the courtyard. "Now... where to next?"

"How about up?" Isaac suggested "We haven't been to the upper levels yet so we might as well try it."

"Sounds good."

They went back towards the half-pipe structure that led to the upper courtyard and proceeded to a granite slab that connected to the stone walkway to the ground. They jumped onto the granite slab and then the stone walkway where they found the path along the wall to be overrun by tree branches, the path was broken up and left a large gap in the middle of it, Isaac and Samus cleared the gap with little effort. They passed under a large branch protruding out of the wall. They soon heard a buzzing sound and looked up to see a War Wasp floating in the air. Isaac shot the large insect down with his sapphire bolts. They then crossed over the makeshift tree branch bridge they saw when they first walked into the large courtyard that arced upwards with stone slabs held in the center. They were soon met by a horde of War Wasps as they flew out of their hives.

Isaac released an irritated sigh and said "I'll handle the bugs, you take care of the hives Samus. I'll cover you." Isaac then opened fire on the dozen War Wasps that floated around them as Samus fired two of her five remaining missiles at the hives. She then helped Isaac kill the remaining wasps.

They continued through a door that entered into another metallic tunnel that swarmed with scarabs. Samus cleared the swarm with one shot of here beam cannon, coating the tunnel in pale blue blood. They proceeded through the winding tunnel until they were blocked by tree roots that penetrated the metallic walls.

"Great, blocked by tree roots." Isaac stated.

"Relax Isaac; it looks like we can get through this hole here." Samus pointed to the opening under the tree roots. It was wide enough for Isaac to fit through without a Morph Ball mode.

Samus rolled into her Morph Ball and rolled through the opening to see another similar situation up ahead so she stayed in her Morph Ball. Isaac slipped through the hole with some difficulty; he was half-way through when he saw he would have to repeat the process up ahead. "I wish I could do that ball trick of yours." Samus laughed in her energized state while she rolled through the second opening to find a door on the other side. She returned to her Combat Suit form as Isaac struggled to get through the second, slightly smaller, opening.

"Maybe we can figure something out. I think you could use it since or suits share a similar energy signature. So theoretically it could work." Samus reasoned as she moved through the door ahead.

"Is that true Delta?" Isaac asked the voice in his head. Finally squeezing himself out of the small opening.

"_I'll have to look into it, but I see no problem with Samus' theory. Though there is a chance that won't work._" Delta replied monotonically.

"Very well, let me know if we can pull it off." Isaac replied as he followed Samus through the door.

They came to a room flooded with green toxic water. It was rectangular in shape with a fountain, in the center near the far wall, that spewed the toxic liquid from its dipped in spout. The fountain had four grooves that allow the water to flow back into the pool below. The only source of light was two plazmites that fluttered through the mostly empty room.

"Whoa, someone call a plumber." Isaac joked.

"Let's look around for a way across to that door over there." Samus pointed to the door on her left. It was on an elevated platform that appeared to have crumbled from a pre-existing floor. "Hmmm, let's see…" Samus scanned the room for anything that could be used to avoid the toxic water below.

"Hey…" Isaac called as he moved along an adjacent wall towards an exposed tree. "It looks like we can move around the fountain with this walkway."

"Nice, let's get moving Isaac."

They proceeded along the thin walkway that moved along two walls. They jumped a small gap in the walkway and then jumped up onto the fountain that jutted out from the wall. They moved around the stone fountain so they could see the door. They noticed another Chozo inscription on the wall.

"Looks like another Chozo message." Isaac stated. "You want to do the honors Samus?" He extended his arm towards the alien writing as he moved out the way.

Samus activated her scanner and read aloud the writings. "'_The surges of negative energy brought by the meteor far exceed our expectations. We Chozo have yet to find a way to rid ourselves of the Great Poison. All we can do now is seal it away and wait for the day when a power to purify the poison appears. However, it is already impossible to collect all pieces of the Great Poison, as it has already spread, seeping into the planet and hardening._'"

"Great Poison…" Isaac repeated "Sounds like the meteor brought a visitor with it, some form of life from the looks of it."

"Sounds that way, but I am more concerned with the idea that the Chozo had to seal it. If they couldn't destroy it that means the Space Pirates can get their claws on it." Samus warned.

"It also says that pieces of it were scattered. At least we know something the pirates don't."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Samus replied.

"What's the matter? We know about the poison _and_ we can do something about it. I mean, it's not like the pirates can read ancient Chozo right?" Isaac replied playfully.

"…" Samus did not respond immediately.

"Right?"

"We'd better hurry and find my augmentations if we want to stop Ridley." Samus replied firmly.

Isaac got the hint repplied with a sense of urgency. "Right."

They saw a large stone block between the fountain and the door they could use as a stepping block to reach the platform.

"Looks safe enough…" Isaac guessed as he jump on the block and then to the door.

"Looks like it." Samus replied as she jumped on the block as well and reached the door.

They moved through the door to come to a curved corridor that had an open sky light. The corridor looked narrow and it was as long as twenty to fifty meters. They moved down the corridor where they heard a loud shriek. Suddenly six oval objects fell from the ceiling and rotated in the air briefly before they shot towards the two hunters.

"Shriek Bats!" Samus exclaimed as she shot the creatures down. Isaac followed the amber hunter's lead and shot the spinning creatures as well.

"I'm guessing they charge their pray in swarms." Isaac stated as he shot two more bats down.

"Yeah, basically they cling to ceilings and wait for their prey to come close. Then they release a loud shriek to disorient their prey allowing them to swoop down and tear into their prey with the teeth on their wings as they spin. They can be detected by thermal sensors since their body temperature peaks at 121 degrees centigrade." Samus explained to the unknowing foreigner as she kept moving down the corridor.

"That's why they call them Shriek Bats, I guess." Isaac surmised. They came to another door that opened into a large towering room with a large ancient tree in the center surrounded by six circular platforms that moved up the tree like stairs and bore bronze circular patterns with conic aesthetics on the edges. The tree was soaking in the toxic waters as its barked glowed with vein patterned green lights.

"This must be a meditation room. Once a beautifully peaceful place…" Samus explained solemnly.

"Now it's nothing more than a polluted pit." Isaac eyed the tree behind his sapphire lenses. "We have to fix this, while that tree still has a chance to live." Isaac said in a firm tone.

"What brought this on?" Samus asked in a playfully curious tone.

"My home is full of flora. The only sign of civilization is our technology and the huts we live in. There is no pollution and we live in harmony with the forests. That closeness allows me to sense the pain in this tree, even if I cannot understand its language." Isaac explained.

"Okay, I don't like seeing this either." Samus replied stepping onto the crumbled platform in front of them.

"Thank you Samus."

"Don't mention it. You're helping me get back to full strength I might as well return the favor."

Isaac stepped onto the platform, a smile forming behind his helmet as he looked around the room and saw two platforms that could be used to jump around the perimeter of the room till they came to the platforms.

"How about we jump on those platforms, see if there is anything on the other side of this tree." Isaac suggested.

"Worth a shot." Samus replied.

"I'll go first then." Isaac said as he jumped to platform. As he was half-way towards the platform, a long tendril shot out from a hole in the wall above the low platform. It paused in the air briefly, allowing the duo to get a descent look at the scaly creature.

It had a meter long razor sharp scythe-like blade and a sickly yellow eye with a slit pupil at the bend of the scythe where it connected to the scaly tendril. The tendril started to swing back and forth in the air with great speed. Isaac bent his body backwards and tucked his legs so he landed on his shins, allowing him to slide across the platform and avoid getting decapitated by the strange creature.

Samus scanned the creature and discovered the eye at the base of the scythe to be where it is most sensitive. She shot the eye and the vine retracted into the wall. "Isaac! That's a Reaper Vine! Its hides in the walls so be careful!" Samus called to Isaac.

"Noted!" Isaac jumped to the elevated circular platform and another Reaper Vine shot out from the wall, but Isaac shot it in its sickly eye before it could swing its mighty blade. Isaac then jumped to another circular pad closer to the poisoned tree. He looked back and saw Samus land next to him.

"Was not expecting Reaper Vines to be here, this is more serious than I thought." Samus stated. "We definitely need to do something about this pollution."

"Agreed, I don't want a free haircut and lobotomy at twenty-eight." Isaac stated

Samus chuckled slightly at the joke. "Let's be grateful that its eye can only see a maximum of ten meters. Well come on, let's get going. The longer we sit and talk, the sooner this tree dies." They jumped up the circular platforms till they came to a planked walkway on the withered tree's branch that penetrated the wall, connecting them to the walkway that lead down to the door at the base. Two more Reaper Vines shot out of the wall only to be blasted in the eye by Samus.

They entered the door to find a narrow corridor full of pipes that leaked steam from various cracks indicating the growing pressure in the pipes.

"For an abandoned sanctuary, the machinery in this place is working just fine." Isaac stated as he and Samus moved through the Closter phobic corridor, the steam fogging up their visors temporarily.

"It's not supposed to be." Samus replied as they came into a large room that was missing its ceiling as exposed rods jutted out the sides, it had completely caved in. The room had a set of two large pipes running along the walls and a section of the floor was caved in and flooded with toxic water at the lowest level. There were large fungi growing out of the floor. They noticed a door to the left of the room, under a metallic structure. "Looks like that's where we're headed next." Samus said.

"_Wait Samus…_" Delta cut in"_My scans indicate an energy signature, that is very much identical to your Morph Ball, located in a circular room._" Delta explained

"That is more than likely the Morph Ball's Bombs." Samus reasoned.

"How do we get there Delta?" Isaac asked the AI construct.

"_It looks like there is a door at the top of this room that will put you on the proper path._" Delta replied.

"Well then, let's head up." Isaac said with an enthusiastic tone.

Samus looked to her right and saw more sand stone debris on the ground, as well as stone and metallic platforms that led to another platform and kept leading up to another platform directly above them. "We should be able to get to that room if we take these platforms up." Samus pointed out as she hopped on the rubble next to her and jumped onto the metallic platform. "I'll go first, if you don't mind Isaac." Samus said playfully.

"Of course not Samus." Isaac replied matching the Amber Hunter's playful tone. They hopped from platform to platform until they came to the hollowed out indent in the wall that housed a handful of fungi. "Blast Caps, their like Sap Sacs except they discharge a very toxic poison in its spores by shaking itself repeatedly." Samus shot the fungi till they exploded. "They're not too difficult to deal with." She then jumped to the alcove.

"I can see that." Isaac replied as he landed behind the Amber Hunter. As he did more Shriek Bats fell from the ceiling to attack the unsuspecting duo. The hunters dodged the flying predators and watched as they lodged themselves deep into the ground.

"That could've been bad." Isaac said walking towards the stuck predators.

"It helps if they don't scream. It may work on smaller creatures, but it loses its effect with our suits sound dampers." Samus replied. "Now let's keep moving."

Samus jumped to the next two platforms until she was in the next corner of the room. She turned to see more Blast Caps on a stone platform and cultivated them via power beam. She continued to leap back towards the alcove corner through the use of the rising platforms. When she was on the stone platform in the corner she noticed the small opening at her feet and immediately rolled into her Morph Ball and rolled through the opening. The tunnel curved into a U shape as it became illuminated by the yellow glow of Samus' spherical form. The floor of the tunnel turned into a metal grating as the glowing sphere came to the exit. She unfurled back into her Combat Suit form, in front of her was another hexagonal door set atop a walkway with two ramps on either side.

Isaac caught up to the Amber Hunter, but he could not roll into a Morph Ball so he was stuck on the far wall, unable to jump across the gap easily. "Looks like Delta's right yet again." Isaac stated as he saw the door across the way.

"_I'm always right Spirit._" Delta cut in with a cocky tone.

"Do you think you can cross this gap?" Samus asked.

"Yeah, just give me a second." Isaac replied. He backed up to the wall and placed one hand and foot on it. He sent an electrical signal to his feet and the twin platinum ports on the side of his armored obsidian shins. The ports began to glow a deep sapphire blue and a low hum could be heard coming from the twin ports. Isaac ran and jumped to the Amber Hunter and a gust of blue flame shot out from his legs, propelling him in the air briefly to allow him to land on the platform Samus was on. "Flight Shoes, helps when I need to get somewhere." Isaac explained

"I can see that." Samus replied, they heard a loud Shriek and started shooting in the direction of the sound without looking. "Shriek bats, they never learn."

"I can see that as well." Isaac replied playfully mimicking the Amber Hunter's tone. They jumped the gap after downing the loud predators to reach the door and proceeded through it. They came to another open sky corridor, this one much wider and shorter than the last.

They suddenly heard a beeping sound in their helmets as Delta signaled them. "_You are approaching the source of the energy signal now._" Delta said

"Thanks Sherlock." Isaac replied sarcastically. "What next, the suns going to rise tomorrow?"

"_Actually I am detecting an increase in War Wasp activity. But I suppose you knew that already, eh smartass?_" Delta replied matching Isaac's tone.

"Oh don't take that tone with me you transparent smartass." Isaac replied playfully. "I'm just messing with you."

"_Sure you are, just be prepared for a fight if you want to get those bombs._" Delta warned before fading back into Isaac's suit systems.

Samus was laughing at the two bickering with each other as they moved through the open sky room, the sun illuminating the whole of the room. The room itself was less of a sight to behold as the columns had crumbled to the ground and the tree branches intruded through the wall, its withered red leaves slowly falling from its bark and the open sky was from a collapsed ceiling. They moved through another door that opened into another dilapidated room where they had to leap up onto the hallway. The hall way suddenly filled with green beams of energy.

"Eyons again." Isaac stated rather amused.

Samus shot at the wall clinging eyes causing them to close their protective lids, they moved through the hall with relative ease since they had no need to worry about the Eyons for a while. They reached the end of the elevated walkway and proceeded through a door that opened into a room flooded with the toxic water. The platform they were standing on being the only visible safe haven from the poisonous waters.

"Well, now what? I can see a door up there, but I see no way to get to it." Isaac stated in an annoyed tone.

"Calm down Isaac, even if we could get there that would be as far as we go. The doors locked and without some means of powering it we're stuck." Samus replied. She looked around and saw two hallways on either side of the two. "We should check out those hallways, see if we can get into that room Delta Mentioned."

"Alright, I'll go left then." Isaac said as he moved to the left hallway while Samus went right.

Samus rounded a corner and leapt over a toxic pit before rounding another corner and arriving at a flooded inclined hallway. '_I can't go any farther this way._' She tapped her hand to her helmet and opened a comm channel to Isaac. "Isaac, the hallway over here is flooded with that toxic water. Did you find anything useful?"

"_Yes, I found an opening big enough for your Morph Ball, but I can't fit through so it looks like we'll have to split off for a while._" Isaac replied.

"Okay, I'll meet you at the door." Samus turned off the comm channel and walked to the main entrance where she met the tendril headed hunter. "So where's the hole at?" Samus asked.

"Just follow that hallway, you can't miss it." Isaac replied pointing over his shoulder.

"Well I guess we'll be parting ways temporarily." Samus said feigning sadness.

"Aw, don't worry Samus. We'll see each other soon enough." Isaac replied nudging Samus in her armored arm. "Just be careful. You may have your missiles and Morph Ball, but your armor is still underpowered."

"Hey! That's my line!" Samus replied tapping on Isaac's chest plate. "You're the one who's still recovering you goof ball." They both laughed at the joke.

"Well I'll see you when I see you." Isaac said as he moved through the door.

"Back at ya." Samus moved down the hallway Isaac investigated. Samus rounded two corners and hopped over two toxic gaps before rounding another corner where she saw the opening for her Morph Ball, it was covered in fluorescent blue lighting and pale metal among the tan stone walls. '_He wasn't kidding when he said I wouldn't miss it._'

She looked to her right and saw a large creature, it had sickly yellow skin and grey spots making it blend in to the walls around it. It had four large black tusks on the sides of its round body and its eyes were an emerald green. The front of its body curved upwards to show off its massive under-bite. The creature closed its eyes and refused to open them after seeing the amber hunter.

Samus activated her scanner and was pleasantly surprised with the creature entry. '_A Stone Toad, at least I know it won't attack me._' Samus then curled into her Morph Ball and rolled into the tiny opening. She rolled through the pipe until she shot out in a small room. The pipe she was in had apparently broken and separated from the lower pipe in front of her. She continued to roll through the lower pipe as it seemed to connect to the chamber that housed the energy signature that Delta had detected. She continued through pipe the until she came to a long hallway that opened into a dome like room.

The room had crumbling walls like the rest of the abandoned ruins. It had the toxic water running through a Z shaped pattern in the floor with a circle in the middle of it.

'_This should be it. Now where is the source…?_' Samus looked up and saw a very large War Wasp Hive embedded in the ceiling of the domed room. '_I found the increased War Wasp activity Delta was talking about._' Luckily no War Wasps had bothered to attack the intruder. '_Might as well look around since the welcoming committed is on break._' She looked around the room and saw an opening she could destroy with her Morph Ball Bombs if she attained them. Samus decided to approach the center of the room where the Z pattern turned into a small circle.

As she approached the center, a metallic machine suddenly rose from the toxic waters. The machine was cylindrical and split into three segments with a long tube on one side with an opening at either end of the grey pipe. She noticed some red containers in the center of the machine. '_Gas Tanks!_' Samus thought as the vertical tube on the side fell so it was horizontal with the machine.

'_Great! An Incinerator Drone! I'm fighting a malfunctioning garbage disposal!_' Samus thought as she ducked under the burning inferno that ensued. She tried to shoot the runaway machine, but the armor deflected her shots around the room. '_Guess I'll have to wait till it cools itself down. It can't keep that pressure up forever._' Samus ducked under the rotating fire, until the machine sprouted a red dot atop of itself. '_Called it._' She shot at the red target until the top clasp down and the flame throwers rotated vertically.

'_Well, that was easy._' Samus thought too soon as the flame throwers spouted flame into the War Wasp hive in the ceiling, rousing the volatile creatures from their slumber. '_Nothing is ever that simple is it?_' The Wasps emerged from their home, their bulbous green abdomens hanging low. '_Barbed War Wasps huh?_' Samus mentally read the description in her visor. '_The Barbed War Wasps guard the hive and fire the stingers like projectiles covered in a very acid liquid, another stinger growing instantly afterwards. Better steer clear of their ranged attacks then._'

The three wasps flew around the arena, the Incinerator Drone returned to its predictable burn pattern as it rotated in the center. Samus ducked under the raging flame as it passed overhead and shot down two bulbous War Wasps as she dodged the thirds poisonous projectile. The Drone then stopped its rotation and began rotating counterclockwise. "Don't make it too difficult for me." Samus mocked as she shot down the last War Wasp and prepared to shoot the red dot atop the Burning Drone. The Drone then tilted its flame throwers at an angle so that they burned at the ground and upper corner of the room. Samus jumped over the lower flame as it spun towards her legs. "I said don't make this too difficult for me now." Samus mocked again. The red target atop the Drone suddenly burst out and Samus fired on the exposed weak point.

The Drone clasped its red top shut after receiving a volley of yellow energy from Samus' beam cannon. It then fired a stream of flames into the already burning hive, bringing six more Barbed War Wasps to the battle. Samus fired on two of them, one dodged the initial volley but the second was torn to pieces. The remaining five floated around the room lazily; they were not as fast as the Ram War Wasps that she and Isaac dealt with two hours prior. The Drone continued to spray the room with flames. Samus shot at three Wasps and downed two while causing the other to dodge carelessly into the Drone's spinning flame and roast to a crisp. Samus downed the last two and fired a volley of mini suns at the red light atop the Drone once it reared its sensor again.

The Drone retreated it's exposed red sensor again and proceeded to burn the hive above it. A dozen Wasps swarmed out of the burning hive and proceeded to attack anything in the room. The wasps flung poisonous stingers at the Drone and Samus as they vented their rage on those that scorched their home. The Drone deflected the toxic stingers off its metallic hide while Samus dodged and shot the Wasps down one by one. She took some amount of Damage as the Drone grazed her leg and a few toxic barbs struck her chest and back, her shield status went from blue to green on her H.U.D. as she continued to fight off the decreasing number of enemies. "_Samus, are you alright? Your vitals just went yellow._" Isaac's voice cut in through her helmet radio.

"Just, _ugh_, peachy!" Samus replied as she shot down two more wasps and knocked one into the Drone's fire leaving three angry wasps floating in the air.

"_Doesn't sound like it._"

"I know…" she replied sternly as she downed the last three Wasps and waited to fire at the Incinerator Drone. "I just had to deal with the wasps Delta mentioned and this glorified garbage disposal!" Samus spat as she fired on the red sensor again.

"…_Garbage disposal?_" Isaac asked in a confused manner.

"Trust me, you don't want to know!" Samus shot at the red sensor furiously, the red target slamming down again and pointing the flame thrower at the hive increasing the amount of fire by spewing forth more flame, this time burning the hive to senders and leaving nothing but ash behind. The Incinerator drone subsequently exploded from an electrical overload due to the many hits the sensor took. In its place was a small stone platform fit snugly in the center of the toxic circle and an amber floating sphere-like object with a yellow center hollowed out. It was made of eight elongated ovular panels, four small ones in the center and four large ones encasing them, and was held together by a tight band.

"_Was that an explosion?_" Isaac asked

"Yes Isaac, and I think I found the source of Delta's energy spike." Samus walked into the center. The sphere began to glow a bright yellow and then dematerialized into a swarm of yellow particles. The particles swarmed over Samus' body and absorbed into her suit. Samus' H.U.D. read _Morph Ball Bombs Active_. "Hey Isaac… I got my bombs back." Samus said in a calm but excited tone.

"_Nice, and I think I found your Charge Beam over here. I'll send you my location now. Why don't you look around the room, see if you can find any goodies._" Isaac replied.

"Can do."

"_See you when you get here Samus._" Isaac finished as he clicked off the comm channel.

"I have everything now. All I have to do is find Isaac and get my Varia Suit back. Watch out Ridley, I'm coming for you next."


	7. Chapter VI

Bounty Hunter

Chapter VI: Harsh Environment

* * *

Era: Tranquil-Mystic Calendar

Cycle: 2548

Time: 19:27 Galactic standard time

Plane: Gamma

Location: Tallon IV Over World: Chozo Ruins

* * *

Isaac made his way back through the temple corridor after he left Samus to explore the hole in the wall that he found earlier. As he passed through the dilapidated open sky corridor he felt the memories of his home return to him. His mind filled with the image of the huts in the trees and on the floor that constructed his village and the children that ran through the dirt and the grass that formed the paths too navigate it. The temples in the distance surrounded the lush forest, overlooking the life that inhabits its dominion.

The scent of the flowers, trees, and the river that had run nearby entered Isaac's mind. The harmonious sound of the singing birds, the prowling predators, and the roaring waters of the cascading waterfall in the distance and the floating island in the cape of the continent in which he lived.

"Chaos..." Isaac breathed out as he passed through the crumbling corridor, gazing at the orange sky as he did. This place reminds me so much of home. "The peace, the unity with nature, how I yearn for the old days."

"_I miss the people...and my brothers and sisters._" Delta added in, jarring Isaac back to his senses.

A small reminiscent small crept onto Isaac's hidden features. "I miss my family too Delta. But we can't dwell on the past..."

"_Lest it be our undoing._"

"And so we can ensure it never happens to anyone else." Isaac replied, his accent more reminiscent than solemn.

"_Such is the duty of the Guardian, eh Spirit?_"

Isaac did not respond to Delta's question, sure that Delta already had the answer to it. Isaac continued through the corridor until he was back in the vertical room he and Samus arrived at when they made their way up the walls, his map had it listed as the gathering hall. He leapt down from the platform he was on, not wanting to waste time backtracking along the walls. He landed in the center of the room, in front of the main entrance. He glanced to his left and noticed an incline leading up to a door that he and Samus had not noticed during their previous visit to the room.

'W_hat do we have here?_' Isaac thought as he moved to the door, his left gauntlet blaster at the ready in case he ran into trouble.

As he pushed the withered temple door open the sand from the stone fell on his armor, slightly clouding his sapphire lens. He peered into the room and noticed a glowing circular object with a hanging panel that had several prongs jutting out around it. Iridescent cyan lights peppered the machine giving it a high tech design.

Isaac's visor began to analyze the machine at Delta's command. Isaac's Heads Up Display was shaped like a pair of sunglasses, with the outer corners shaped like the sapphire lens. It consisted a map in the lower right hand corner with a hazard level detector above it. The shield sensor was along the lower edge of Isaac's visor, a pair of ghostly blue bars on either side of the nose that disappear towards the edges. The inner curve of the visor held a series of horizontal bars on each side that indicated Isaac's current vital status. The outer corners of the visor held black bars to indicate Isaac's energy levels for his lightning abilities. The bars change color according to the potency of his attacks, black being the current and most destructive. The scanning visor was a simple X that formed to the shape of an object of interest.

"_This looks to be a charging station of some sort Isaac."_ Delta's cybernetic voice explained. _"From the looks of things, our Amber friend could use this to replenish her shields and munitions."_

"Sounds useful, but I don't think the Xeno Armor can interface with it." Isaac reasoned, his suit ran off his natural bio-electric current and had no form of non-energy based projectile weaponry.

"_It is still good to note in the event Samus needs to make use of it. We don't have time to back track all the way to the ship for a resupply."_

Isaac left the room and the station alone and continued his exploration of the temple. He moved to the adjacent door on the far end of the room that he had yet to investigate. The corridor rounded itself into a room with a depression, the depression appeared to be an architectural choice as it had two ramps on either side that appeared to once encase a set of stairs. Atop the ramps were two floating orange Chozo glyphs that neither Isaac nor Delta knew how to translate. The room's most notable feature was the pool of toxic water at the base of the ramps.

_'This place could definitely use a plumber.'_ Isaac mused behind his helmet. He moved down the ramp, but was interrupted by the familiar screech of Shriek bats that descended on him from above. Isaac jumped backwards avoiding the first three bats that crashed into the floor and lodged themselves in the withered sandstone surface of the ramp. The remaining three bats that still spun in the air charged for the obsidian hunter, hoping for a meal. Isaac retrieved one of his blades and sliced the bats in half with one swing. He continued down the ramp, avoiding the stuck bats, and stepped over a gap of toxic water onto a withered platform that used to be part of a floor that once existed in the room, now reduced to pit a toxins. He noticed an unstable wall on his left as he moved over the platform and up the adjacent ramp, making a mental note to check it on his way back if he did not find anything useful in the room ahead.

Isaac rounded another corner and arrived at a blast plate covering that blocked his progress. _'Another road block eh?'_ Isaac approached the obstruction and placed his hand on it. _'Looks like another space pirate covering, a well placed Fang Strike could blast this plate right off, but...'_ Isaac reached for his split blade again and retrieved it from its place of rest. _'Let's try something more...subtle.'_ Isaac swung seven blindingly fast cuts at the covering, slicing into material with relative ease, and replaced his blade back on his right hip. The covering suddenly formed several thin heated slash marks and collapsed into several small triangular pieces.

_'…Didn't think that would work. I guess I recovered more energy than I thought.'_ Isaac proceeded through the opening, his wide area scanner mapped the outline of the room.

The room on his map was built in an _J_. The room was much larger on the map than at first glance due to the drop off from the platform Isaac stood on. The drop off was obscured by the toxic lake before him. From a glance, the room was full of platforms that were elevated on single pillars of steel held aloft by several strands of thick rope. The pillars either rose out of the toxic pool or jutted out the wall at an angle.

Isaac glanced to his left and noticed a very out of place decoration that protruded out of the ceiling and adorned the wall. _'What is a healthy plant root doing here of all places?'_ The root was large, easily twelve meters long and one meter wide and expanding as it ran back up the wall to its source.

"Delta, are you seeing this?" Isaac mused, a slight twinge of disbelief in his voice.

"_Of course I am Isaac. Whatever your Xeno Armor's optics see, I see. So believe me when I say, I can see the giant tree root on the wall." _Delta replied with a twinge of annoyance in his voice. _'What is it with meat bags and asking redundant questions?'_

"No need to get snippy Delta. It was just a question." Isaac replied ignoring Delta's remark. "Run a scan on it, see if you can figure out why this root is so healthy."

"_Hah...very well. Analyzing..."_ Isaac 's visor dimmed the areas around the root and outlined it before emitting a low hum as it scanned the root. _"Analysis complete. It appears that whatever 'plant' this root belongs to, it appears to be thriving off the toxic water."_ Delta stated.

"Which means that the water is a byproduct of the plant." Isaac concluded from Delta's analysis.

"_Or it could be a result of the toxic water."_ Delta rebuked.

"Not likely, if this place has been abandoned for little more than a century, it would be impossible for any organism to evolve that rapidly to adapt to a new environment without being subject to fatal doses of radiation." Isaac replied.

"_A logical explanation, but this plane of existence could play by much different rules than the others we've been to."_

"Then we will have to hope to Mother Wolf that is not the case." Isaac noticed a cubic paneling with a circular pattern in the center that held a few runic symbols that Isaac could barley make out in the shadows of the large root.

Delta began scanning the object as to avoid another redundant question from his organic partner. _"There appears to be a series of electrical wiring running along the walls of the room."_ Delta explained.

"Where is it headed to?"

"_One second..."_

Isaac approached the elevated platforms. _'These platforms must be meant as a way to traverse the room.'_

"_Looks like the circuitry curves along the stone. You could use the platforms to make your way over there."_

"Just like playing in the forest back home." Isaac mused before he leapt onto the stone block in front of him. He leapt to the next lowest platform and then to the next platform. The platform he landed on was longer than the previous two and seemed to curve along the face of the rocky wall it was attached to.

As Isaac walked along the platform he was ambushed by a Reaper Vine that suddenly slashed at his head. Isaac back flipped on his hands, narrowly avoiding the scythe and landing out of the range of the Reaper's vision.

_'Nothing is ever simple, is it?'_ Isaac thought himself before shooting the vine in the eye. It retracted back into the wall allowing Isaac to continue along the platform until he had to leap across to another platform.

Isaac prepared to jump across the way. He ran and jumped towards the platform, but as he glided through the air he noticed another hole in the wall directly in front of him. _'That better not be what I think it is...'_ On queue another Reaper shot out of the wall and eyed the obsidian hunter. _'Of course...' _Isaac mentally shrugged.

The Reaper reared its head back and prepared to rend the soaring hunter in half. Isaac reached for one of his blades again and brought it up to parry the large scythe.

_'Please let this work...'_ Isaac's midnight blade collided with the Reaper's bladed skull cutting through the scythe like paper. The reaper reared its head back in pain, allowing Isaac to land on the platform, the Reaper's blade landing and embedding itself next to Isaac. Isaac immediately launched himself forward punching the Reaper in its one eye. The Reaper retracted back into its nesting hole deciding that it had received enough punishment for one life time.

_'That was unpleasant.' _Isaac glanced to his right and noticed a final platform before a large glass and steel door wall that was ten meters wide and fifteen meters tall. It had five circular emblems on its surface that held runic emblems their metallic surface, four on the outer sides and placed in cardinal positions while the fifth was in the center of the large door. Each runic symbol resembled something different. The top emblem was that of a sun being eclipsed, the left symbol was two diagonal slashes, the right resembled a birds talon, the bottom resembled that of four fingers and the center resembled that of a hammer.

Isaac glanced to the right and noticed another panel like the one he found next the large protruding root. He could make out the emblem on the panel this time and he was surprised to find that the panel he was looking at held the same emblem as the talon emblem on the wall.

_'Guess these emblems are the key to unlocking this door. Looks like they need some power in order work.'_ Isaac raised his hand and shot out a blue spark of lightning at the panel in an attempt to activate the panel without overloading the circuitry. The bolt struck the panel harmlessly and showed no visible signs of having an effect on the panel.

_'That's odd, I can usually unlock any electrically locked door.'_

"_Looks like those panels are not powered by conventional means. More than likely it needs an activation signal in order to work." _Delta surmised.

"Can you figure out the frequency?" Isaac asked. _'If we can find the signal, then I can synthesize it with my powers...hopefully.'_

"_Unfortunately no, the Chozo made certain that it could not be deciphered without the proper equipment."_ Delta replied irritantly.

"I guess we'll need Samus' suit systems in order to bypass this door." Isaac replied as he took a kneeling position on the platform.

"_Looks like it."_ Delta replied with a hint of boredom in his tone. If he had a body, one could infer that he was sprawled on his back.

"Speaking of Samus' suit systems, what about her Charge Beam? Wasn't it suppose to be in this general area." Isaac.

Isaac heard a tapping noise in his helmet, like long nails on a wood table. After a few seconds the tapping stopped._ "...Good news and bad news."_ Delta replied nonchalantly in his light cybernetic Caribbean accent.

"Good news first please." Isaac replied with a sigh.

"_Good news is, the Charge Beam is in this room."_ Delta began.

"Let me guess, it's behind this door isn't it." Isaac finished his cybernetic friends message.

"_Yep."_ Delta replied simply.

"Hah, well I might as well call this in. Samus will want to know hat we found." Isaac reached his hand to his helmet. As soon as his index and middle fingers touched his tendril clad helmet Samus' icon flashed from florescent blue to emerald green then to sunflower yellow.

"Samus, are you alright? Your vitals just went yellow." Isaac asked through the communications channel.

"_Just, ugh, peachy!"_ Samus replied. The sound of her Power Beam rang through the helmet's speaker.

"Doesn't sound like it."

"_I know…"_ she replied sternly. _"I just had to deal with the wasps Delta mentioned and this glorified garbage disposal!" _Samus spat as her power beam discharged again.

"…Garbage disposal?" Isaac asked in a confused manner.

"_Trust me, you don't want to know!"_ Samus shouted as the sound of her Power Beam resounded through Isaac's helmet in rapid succession followed by an audible boom.

"Was that an explosion?" Isaac asked.

"_Yes Isaac, and I think I found the source of Delta's energy spike."_ Samus replied. The call went silent for a moment before a low hum was heard through Isaac's head set. _"Hey Isaac… I got my bombs back."_ Samus said in a cool tone.

"Nice, and I think I found your Charge Beam over here. I'll send you my location now, why don't you look around the room, see if you can find any goodies." Isaac replied

"_Can do."_

"See you when you get here Samus." Isaac finished as he clicked off the comm channel. _'Now for the water, and then Ridley...this is just too easy. Something is definitely up.'_

* * *

Samus made her way back through the pipes from the Incinerator Drone's chamber. She had to jump up to the elevated pipe she exited through when she first entered the arena. Thanks to her Morph Bombs she was able to jump in the Morph Ball mode to get back to the flooded chamber room.

Samus exited out of the pipe and made her way back through the flooded corridors and back through the open sky room. She looked up and saw the red sky as the sun began to set.

She contemplated to herself _'I wonder what they saw in this place? What it looked like before whatever calamity struck this place. Ah well, no point in dwelling on it right now.'_ Samus continued through the corridor until she was back in the Gathering Hall.

_'Now where did Isaac wander off to?'_ Samus checked her map for Isaac's crescent icon. _'Looks like I'm going right.'_ Samus jumped down onto one of the platform to her right and then down to the ground floor in front of the door that led to where Isaac was.

She proceeded through the corridor until she was in the room with the depression and withered stairs. Samus took note of the floating orange holograms atop the ramps, unlike the partially withered lores that were enhanced by Samus' suit systems, Samus could read these scriptures without the use of her suit systems.

_'That which fouls the waters seeks the sun.' _Samus mentally read to herself. _'The source of this pollution must thrive on photosynthesis. Maybe it's a kind of plant or a malfunctioning solar powered machine.'_ She continued down the ramp and stepped across the small acidic gap at the bottom of the depression.

She came across the withered wall and picked a low hum on the other side. She immediately fired a rocket at the wall, effectively reducing the wall to dust and rubble, revealing a missile expansion for her missile launcher lying on the ground and pulsing with a yellow-amber glow. She picked up the upgrade, the expansion putting her counter at _6/20_ capacity.

_'If the source of the toxins in the water is mechanical, then we should have no problem destroying it. I could fire a missile or my charge beam at it. That should pack enough of a punch to take it out. If not, then Isaac could overload it with an electrical surge from his body...provided he's recovered enough by then.'_ Samus eyed the crescent icon in the top right corner of her visor, it still glowed green. _'...provided...'_

Samus continued up the adjacent ramp and eyed the holographic scripture atop the ramp.

_'The great poison comes from Tallon's core... What is that suppose to mean?'_ Samus looked back to the previous hologram, a puzzled look on her hidden features. _'Just a second ago the hologram said the source of the poison fed on sunlight. So why is it at the core of planet? Something is definitely strange here.'_

Samus continued through the corridor until she came to a large room filled with the toxic water and elevated platforms held up by steel poles and thick ropes. She checked her map data for Isaac's location. The Obsidian Hunter's green vine covered crescent icon on her map. _'Looks like he's at the end of the room.'_ She glanced to her right and noticed the large vine protruding from the ceiling. _'This is odd. Why would this root be healthier than all the others? Maybe this is part of the main pollution.'_

She eyed the stone platform in front of her. _'Platforming? This could be fun.'_ She mused behind her emerald visor. She jumped on the stone block and then jumped up to the first elevated platform and then to the next and finally onto the long elevated platform. She encountered a Reaper Vine, but quickly shot it's eye, making it retract back into the wall. She kept moving towards the crescent icon of the Obsidian Hunter, the icon now shown to be little more than thirty meters away.

Samus rounded the corner and saw the obsidian hunter kneeling before a large stone door with dust covered glass and metallic panels. _'There he is.'_ She leapt across to the next platform, another Reaper Vine jutting out of the wall in front of her.

She readied her beam canon to fire when she noticed that the Reaper was not flailing wildly at her even though she was standing within its limited field of vision.

_'That's odd, what happened to its scythe?'_ The vine just leered over her, its once proud and deadly appendage now reduced to little more than a dull knife. She looked to her left and saw the once mighty weapon was struck the ground. _'Looks like my mysterious partner got his strength back.'_ She leapt to the platform that Isaac was kneeling on.

"I'm guessing the charge beam upgrade is hiding behind this door." Samus analyzed, placing her hand on her hip.

Isaac looked up to the slim Amber Hunter. "Yeah..." He replied simply.

"Any ideas? I don't think my missiles are gonna get through this."

"_If I may suggest something."_ Delta piped in over the shared comm channel.

"Got for it Delta." Samus replied.

"_I've run a scan on this door and I've found a series of electrical circuits that lead from four different panels in the room that respond to the corresponding panels on the door. If these panels are activated, then we should be able to open the door."_ Delta explained.

"I think we've found three of them so far." Isaac rose from his kneeling position, walked to the edge of the platform, and looked down to a small stone plateau at the base of the door. "There's one down there, one to our right..." Isaac pointed to the panel on the rock wall. "And one by the door you used to get in here."

"Okay, so why haven't you activated them?" Samus asked.

"..." Isaac and Delta didn't answer at first. One had no answer to give. The other too embarrassed of his limited programing on the Chozo to admit to his faults.

Samus released an exhausted sigh. "I'm guessing you two don't know how."

"You'd be correct." Isaac replied rubbing his tendril helm. "Delta doesn't have any data on the Chozo, other than the scriptures that you've been translating for us."

"Why not just look into my systems for the data like you did with the plated beetle?"

"_That was an emergency Samus. And I don't make a habit out of hacking our allies needlessly."_ Delta replied. The hunters could hear the offended tone in the AI's cybernetic voice.

"That's...surprisingly honorable for an Artificial Intelligence." Samus mused.

"_I'm not like the AIs you have met Samus. I have reservations that I have developed on my own, not preprogrammed by the one who made me. In some ways, I'm more alive than any creature you've encountered."_ Delta boasted confidently, Samus imagined the snarky AI striking a cocky pose.

"Okay, then I guess I have to open the door. Afterwards, we'll see about getting you a copy of the Chozo database so we can avoid this problem later." Samus turned to activate the panel on the wall. She could make out the faint runic image of a claw on the metal paneling.

She activated her scanner, a low hum emitted from the panel as the runic image lit up a ghostly white glow. The image showed three vertical lines followed by two horizontal lines representing a claw. The corresponding runic symbol on the right side of the door glowed the same ghostly white light.

"Looks like that did it. I'll go look for the other symbols." Samus stated as she turned to walk back to the opening of the room.

"There should a symbol right next to the entrance. There's another one at the base of this door. If you get that one last, then I should be able to help you up from there." Isaac advised the veteran hunter.

Samus made her way back to the entrance of the large room, passing the passive Reaper Vine. She came to the large root and examined the shaded alcove behind it. She made out the faint outline of another panel. She activated it with her scanner and the panel glowed to life, revealing four vertical lines, each spaced evenly and gradually going in a diagonal angle across a horizontal line underneath.

"_That's two Samus. Keep this up and you'll have yourself a powerful new armament."_ Isaac chimed in through the communications channel.

Samus continued along a series of crumbled stone platforms underneath the elevated platforms. "Did you notice that root sticking out of the wall Isaac?" Samus questioned as she shot another Reaper Vine.

"_We did. I think it's the source of the toxins. Delta believes it could be a result of the water itself." _Isaac replied.

Samus shot a group of Blast Cap mushrooms revealing another panel underneath the freshly cultivated fungus. She scanned the panel, making it glow like the others, revealing two diagonal lines with a small dot under the tip of the inner most slanted line, deactivating another locking mechanism on the large obstructing door.

"I think it is the source. One of the holograms had a message in regards to the toxins. _'That which fouls the waters seeks the sun.'_ If that message is any indication, then the source of this pollution should be somewhere open." Samus continued along the crumpled disjointed platforms towards the base of the door.

"_Judging from where that root is protruding, it's probably at the top of this temple or somewhere near it."_ Isaac replied. _"Either way we should keep our eyes open for an open sky room."_

"_I'll scan for any increased amounts of toxins in the temple." _Delta interjected, analytically. _"If the source is in this temple, I should be able to find it."_

"Please do Delta." Samus arrived at the final panel below the massive door. She scanned the panel making it glow, revealing a sun being slowly eclipsed by a dark object, two sharp lines of light flashing over the edge of the black circle.

Then hunters examined the door, the symbols now fully lit. the fifth and center emblem glowed, its shape revealing a hammer. A loud thud emitted from the large door and then the large door separated into two segments horizontally through the middle, one segment ascending into the ceiling, the other retracting into the floor, revealing a hidden chamber with a floating object that glowed with the same amber light as Samus' missile upgrade.

"There we go." Samus said to no one in particular.

Isaac leapt across the gap into the newly accessible chamber. He turned around and draped over the side, extending his hand to help Samus up to his position. "We're almost there Samus, just a little more we'll have Ridley on the run."

Samus extended her hand and placed an amber foot on the stone wall. "You sure you can lift me this time?" Samus chided before gripping the Obsidian Hunter's hand firmly.

Isaac yanked Samus up the wall and onto the lip of the chamber platform. "I think I'll manage." He replied back. He then turned to the glowing object at the far end of the twenty meter long room. "You think that's the charge beam?"

"Only one way to find out." Samus said as she made her way through the chamber. Her amber armored feet clanking on the stone floor.

Isaac looked around the chamber, an eerie feeling falling over him. _'Something doesn't feel right...'_ He thrummed his gauntlet blasters to life. Keeping them at the ready with one of his split blade swords in a reverse grip in his right hand.

Samus brought her beam cannon to bear at the Obsidian Hunter's action. "You expecting company Isaac?"

"Just a feeling. Like the walls are watching us." He replied ominously. "Delta, scan to the room." Isaac's helmet started tapping. _'There's a chill in the air here, but why haven't I felt it till now?'_

Samus approached the glowing upgrade. It was a large circle with three rings of varying size along the rim. It rotated in a full revolution before stopping, recoiling slightly, and rotating again. The larger of the three out rings had a solid orange glow in its center.

"Better grab that upgrade Samus. The sooner you get it, the sooner we can get out of this room." Isaac suggested.

Samus could hear the twinge of anxiety in his otherwise calm Caribbean voice. _'Somethings got him on edge. He better keep his nerve or he'll be a liability I can't afford to have in here.'_

Samus reached out her cannon and placed it in the larger of the three rings. The ring enclosed and tightened around Samus' metallic teal canon, the orange glow radiated around her canon, much like the missile upgrade, and sparked wildly with purple and orange electricity. One of the sparks arched wildly and struck Isaac in the chest. The rest of the metal circle collapsed like a blocked puzzle and lined the inner walls of Samus' canon, integrating with her suits' system. Her HUD lit up with the words _Charge Beam engaged._

_'We're back in business.'_ Samus thought as she looked to Isaac, who was still being covered in the sparks from Samus' upgrade.

"Isaac!" Samus exclaimed. She rushed towards Isaac, but kept her distance to avoid getting hit with feed back.

"I'm alright, just a little confused is all." Isaac looked at his hands, the sparks finally subsiding. "Huh?" An icon appeared next to Samus' reverse _Z_ icon. It was a small empty box with a line connected to it. "What's this here?"

A low rumble emitted from the walls jarring the hunter from his thoughts. Isaac quickly gripped hie sword and brought his left gauntlet bear. Samus followed suit, her beam canon glowing yellow.

"_Remember that comment about the walls watching us Spirit?"_ Delta chimed in.

"Yeah?" Isaac replied warily. _'I don't like where this is going.'_

The walls suddenly plumed with sand and dust, revealing three Eyons on either wall, their eyes projecting the deadly green laser that constituted their gaze.

"Great." Isaac stated sarcastically. "An enemy I can't destroy easily." He suddenly heard a high pitched thrum and looked to his right to see the tip of Samus' canon become engulfed in a large yellow orb. Samus discharged the orb at one of the wall creatures, decimating the creature and reducing it to chunks of flesh and green blood.

"I'd say this works." Samus said and charged another shot. Firing one after another at the Eyons, gradually clearing the way until the walls were left with hollow chunks of membrane that oozed with green blood and the floors covered with bits of the Eyon's flesh.

"No arguments here." Isaac and Delta said in unison.

_'Though there is still a chill in the air.' _Isaac looked back towards the platform the charge beam was hovering over. He looked to the wall behind it and saw another Chozo Lore etched into the wall. "Looks like we have another message from your bird friends."

Samus began to translate the wore, withered scripture. _"Disaster struck suddenly. We had a vague, dark foreboding, and it became truth. A meteor appeared from nowhere, casting a shadow of debris over the land with the violence of its impact. Its destructive force spent, the fallen star burned itself out rapidly, and the incident should have faded into memory...but the meteor brought with it corruption. A Great Poison burst forth into the land, a strange energy that clawed at natural life with a ferocity. That strange, negative energy emitted from the the meteor expanded to encompass Tallon IV in a night, as a spider weaves a web."_

"A meteor?" Isaac said absentmindedly. "That's the second time the Chozo mentioned that thing. I wonder what that thing brought that was bad enough to literally write on the walls about."

"I don't know. They even wrote it on one of the holograms in that room I past on the way here." Samus added.

"Not to mention it was referenced on the giant door covering this room." Isaac commented.

"What do you mean?"

"If you read the runic symbols on the door from top then left, across, and down. Then you'd get the message _Darkness fell and struck Tallon IV._"

"The eclipse, the diagonal lines, a hammer, the talons, and there were four lines sticking up on the second panel I activated. That would make since." Samus replied.

"_What ever that meteor is, the space pirates must want it if the Chozo were terrified of it."_ Delta chimed in.

"Yeah, I don't want to find out what that thing is if we don't have to." Isaac replied as he went back to the end of the chamber and dropped down to the lower platform.

"Depending on how long that research station has been in orbit here, they may already have found it." Samus replied ominously as she followed suit and they backtracked through the temple. "Isaac, are you sure you're okay? We don't need your suit systems malfunctioning in a fire fight." Samus stated as they passed back through the room with the toxic depression.

"Yeah, my suit seems to be fine." Isaac replied. He eyed the icon in the corner of his helmet. "But my HUD does show a new icon next to you status symbol."

"Really?" Samus replied. "What is it?"

"It's just an empty box, nothing more." Isaac replied.

"I wonder why you got hit by the upgrades feedback now, instead of when I got my missile upgrade."

"Probably because my suit grounded itself so I could heal without the threat of contamination from outside bacteria or electrical currents." Isaac theorized as they reached the Gathering Hall. "What about you? Anything different with your HUD?"

Samus looked at her HUD and noticed the same empty square icon next to Isaac's status symbol. "The same thing here. You've got an empty square next to your icon."

"I wonder what that's all about?" Isaac asked as they made their way to the toxic room with the poisoned tree, the room was labeled the Arboretum on the hunters' map. "Can you analyze it Delta?"

"_I might as well?"_ Delta replied with a twinge of irritation in his cybernetic voice. _"I just need permission to analyze Samus' systems."_

"Just don't break anything. You're just analyzing the icon. Everything else is off limits for now." Samus warned. She still did not like the idea of her suits' system being scanned by people she knew next to nothing about.

"_I'm not as callus as Spirit, Samus."_ Delta replied.

"Oh, thanks Delta." Isaac replied sarcastically. He then turned to the amber hunter. "Got any ideas on where to head next?"

"Let me check my map." Samus replied.

"_I recommend you go up. My scans of the area show an increased amount of toxins in a chamber at the top of this room. Also, be on the look out for more of those runic symbols. I detect a number of electrical circuity rooting up the room, two of which are grafted on the tree in the center." _Delta advised.

"Anything else Delta?" Isaac questioned his AI companion.

"_There appears to be a runic symbol to your right, under the ramp. I recommend you activate that first. The rest should be along your path up."_

"Thanks Delta."

"_I'll resume my scanning of this new icon."_

"You heard the voice in my head Samus, better get that scanner of yours ready." Isaac suggested as he leapt across to the platform jutting out of the poisoned tree.

_'I know I need to keep this scanner on hand for clues, but the amount of times I have used this thing is ridiculous.'_ Samus thought as She followed the obsidian hunter's lead.

They leapt to another platform and finally to another platform under the ramp leading up from the door they entered. The platform had Tangle Weed Protruding out of it except the Tangle Weed was red tipped. They could see the faint traces of the runic panel hidden beneath their wavy form. Isaac shot at the weed, forcing them to temporarily retract into the stone, allowing Samus to scan and activate the runic panel, it was the talon symbol from the large door.

"Those Tangle Weed looked a little off." Isaac stated as he jumped back to the platform and up to an extended branch with wooden panels laid across it.

Samus leapt up behind him and eyed the trunk, activating another runic symbol, this one being the eclipse symbol. "Those are Toxic Weeds. Just think Tangle Weed with poisonous barbs." Samus replied as she hopped up onto a block of stone and moved along the ancient wall.

"Oh joy..." Isaac replied sarcastically.

They continually made use of crumbled blocks as they ascended to the top of the Arboretum, once used as walkways wide enough for two beings to make use of as they moved side by side, now barely wide enough for one being to walk comfortably along. They jumped on a body-height block next to the symbol and continued along the crumbled narrow walkway.

They suddenly heard a buzzing noise emitting from the tree. They brought their blasters to bear, anticipating the giant insects that were crawling over their nests. Two War Wasp nests were dangling from the side of the tree, the wasps were busy constructing and maintaining their home, oblivious to the two hunters that were eyeing them.

"How many missiles do you have?" Isaac asked as he let his gauntlet rest on the head of one of the three wasps tending the nests.

"Six." Samus replied.

"Do you think you can destroy the nets, while the wasps are crawling over them?"

"I could damage it, but the concussive missiles only deliver the pay load if it hits directly. I'm going to have to kill the wasps before hand."

"We kill one and more will appear, and I don't want to try to fight these things on this narrow platform."

"Think you could kill the ones in the way while I destroy the nests?"

"On three?" Isaac asked, glancing to the Amber Hunter out of the corner of his eye.

"One." Samus started.

"Two." Isaac continued.

"Three!" Samus replied as she fired her white-blue concussive missile. Isaac simultaneously shot three sapphire bolts at the wasp facing the two hunters, making it fall to the toxic waters three floors down. Samus' missile collided with the nest, destroying the larva and the nest. The two remaining wasps snapped towards the hunters, one recoiling from the shockwave of the missile detonating on the nest. Isaac quickly shot the two wasps down before they charged them. Samus had fired another missile at the nest, destroying it before more wasps rallied with their comrades.

"We're getting better at this teamwork thing." Isaac replied, lowering his arm.

"More like you're starting to keep up." Samus jest as she continued along the wall.

"Hey!" Isaac replied, feigning hurt.

Samus tried to continue down the walkway, but she was stopped by the walkway ending in a wall. The only way to proceed was by morph balling through the tiny indent in the wall. Samus looked towards the far wall, seeing that there was another walkway on the other side of indentation.

"Think you could clear this gap?" Samus questioned the Obsidian Hunter.

"Easy." Isaac leapt across the sixteen meter gap.

Samus curled into a ball and rolled into the indent. She detonated a bomb on the two blocks in the wall, clearing her path to the other side. _'Why didn't he use his leg boosters?'_ She thought. She reached the other side of the indent and unfurled into her streamlined Combat Suit.

"Told ya." Isaac replied in a cocky tone.

They continued to move along the narrow walkway, activating the third runic symbol, two diagonal lines, and jumping on top of another body-height block as they did. Samus rolled through another indent, populated by Toxic Weeds that she shot beforehand to have them temporarily retract into the ground. Isaac once again leapt across the large gap to the other side without the aide of his leg boosters. They hopped up another large block and turned around and leapt onto a large stone slab, then to a large branch from the contaminated tree, and finally to a stone platform with three of the four runic symbols active.

Samus turned around and activated the final symbol, four arching lines above a horizontal slash, the final door symbol activating soon after. The door slide apart as the locking mechanism deactivated, the message spelled out once again disappearing with it.

They walked up the ramp a short distance before they were blocked by yet another obstacle.

"A hole in the wall." Isaac stated, the irritation clear in his voice. Before them was a hole big enough for Samus' Morph Ball, but too small for Isaac to crawl through.

"This could be bad." Samus stated.

"I'd rather not have you go through there alone. What if you bump into something worse than a garbage disposal?"

"I can handle myself." Samus stated getting ready to roll through the hole when Isaac grabbed hold of her left arm.

"No go Samus. Last time I let you go alone, you almost got taken out with the trash. Who knows what we're dealing with this time, and given that you don't have your Varia Suit, you could get killed." Isaac objected strongly.

"Look Isaac..." Samus jerked her arm free of Isaac's grasped. "I fought Ridley AND beat him along with his best battalion of commandos, a psychotic brain, killer Bio-weapons, AND I infiltrated the Pirate Mother ship with little more than a stun gun and my Zero Suit and I still blew that ship to hell and back again. I can take care of myself." Samus stated sternly.

"In case you haven't noticed, we aren't dealing with the pirates right now." Isaac rebuked even stronger than before, stepping towards the veteran hunter. "We're dealing with flora and fauna that have been tainted by something that is dwelling within this planet, if your less than mentally stable bird friend's chicken scratch is to be believed, and ancient machinery built by the same bird people that made that mobile armory of a suit your strutting in."

"Your point?" Samus stated impatiently.

"That I can't afford to risk losing the only person who knows what's going on with this forsaken rock. _You_ can fight the pirates. _You_ can read the Chozo writings. _You_ know what _your_ doing. _I_ don't and Iwon't stand a chance of finding out where to start if you get yourself killed because you're unprepared!" Isaac almost shouted at this point.

"I've gotten by just fine without backup when I became a mercenary, and I can still get by just fine now!" Samus held her ground firmly, matching Isaac's tone. _'Sheesh, I could've blasted the thing by now if I wasn't arguing pointlessly with this guy.'_

"You aren't getting it Samus. The Chozo were much stronger and much smarter and more prepared than we were and they did nothing about this poison or the meteor. Why do you think that is?" Isaac argued strongly, but calmed down enough to think clearly and avoid attracting more insects to them.

"..." Samus thought carefully about Isaac's query. "Because it was too much for them to handle, but I'm not them."

"Exactly. You're one woman. I know you're capable, hell you're the reason Ridley had to suit up just to be able to lead his troops, but at least try to trust me enough to have your back."

"..." Samus relented slightly, but showed little signs of agreeing with Isaac.

"A wiser man than me always spoke that singular strength only gets you into the forest. The wisdom of others can help find the path through it." Isaac replied, a hint of nostalgia in his tone.

"..." Samus did not utter a word for several seconds.

"Samus?"

"Okay...you win." Samus relented with a defeated sigh, Isaac echoing her. "That wise old man remains me of this crazy old bird I use to know."

"Is that so?" Isaac asked, a hint of curiosity in his tone.

"Yeah, so how do you propose we get through here together."

"_I can answer that."_ Delta chimed in.

"Go for it Delta." Isaac replied.

"_I analyzed that strange icon on both of your HUDs. The icon should, in theory, allow you two to share some abilities between each other."_ Delta explained catching the hunters attention.

"How would this work Delta?" Samus asked the AI.

"_This only a theory, but you two should be able to augment each other in unique ways. For instance, Isaac can use his electrical powers to boost some of your suits' functions, like the charge beam for example."_

"Sounds useful." Samus replied placing her hand on her hip and examining her arm canon.

"_Another, and more helpful to the current situation, is that Isaac can use some of your suits functionality with his Xeno Armor. Like your Morph Ball, Samus."_

"Perfect!" Isaac exclaimed

"_But! There is a catch."_ Delta warned before the hunters got too exited.

"Ain't there always." Samus replied.

"_The abilities that can be allocated are few in number and are only functions that you two can't individually do. For instance, Isaac can add a little extra punch to your shields and weapons, but you can't share your weaponry with him if it has a different frequency than his natural bio electric powers."_

"So no missiles or beam enhancements." Samus concluded.

"_And your visor modes. Than again Spirit won't have any need of them even he could use them."_

"Because you can do that yourself?"

"_That too."_ Delta replied simply as if he had forgotten about his subroutines.

"What do you mean?" The veteran raised a brow at the AI's statement.

"I have a small eye condition" Isaac added in. "The extra visor modes would just hurt my eyes and handicap me."

_'Makes since.'_ Samus thought.

"_But for the most part, Spirit can boost your natural suit abilities. You just can't shoot lightning out your fingertips our increase the thrust on your jet pack. Also, It seems that if you regain your Varia Suit abilities Samus, you may be able to add a second link for you two. This is just speculation though."_ Delta added.

"Okay then, let's give it a try." Isaac insisted.

"_One more thing."_ Delta halted them.

"Jeez, you sound like an old shop keeper." Isaac stated.

"_You can only use these abilities if you two are within a hundred meters of each other, and since this is a new feature I'm sure your suits did not have prior, I would recommend only using these linking abilities in short ten second increments. Especially the Morph Ball. I have no idea what that would do to Spirit's body."_

"Yeah, yeah, so how do we use it Delta?" Isaac asked getting impatient with the AI.

"_The same way you activate your suit functions. Just concentrate and feel each other's will flow into your mind. Your suits will do the rest."_

The hunters eyed each other cautiously. Neither one sure if they should attempt to sync their suits.

"You ready?" Samus asked, eager to get to other side of the wall.

"Not really, but I we don't much choice." Isaac replied as he stepped next to the hole in the wall.

"Or time for that matter." Samus added, she took a deep breathe before continuing. "Okay, here goes nothing."

Samus closed her eyes and envisioned both her Combat Suit and Isaac's Xeno Armor in her mind. Isaac stepped off the wall and envisioned his Xeno Armor with Samus' Combat Suit. They slowly dulled their perceptions to the world around them, they felt each other's presence in their minds. Isaac felt a strong protective warmth like a star, a calm river floating him down stream freely and without fear. Samus felt an empowering surge of electricity that massaged her mind and opened her to the heart beat of the world around them.

Soon they were both floating weightless over a pond in a jungle. Neither one with armor or cloths, but no defining features to their bodies, like a cloth had been draped over them that matched their skin tone perfectly, as to block them from judging and wanting eyes. They were a blank canvas ready to be drawn and painted with the parts that defined them in the eyes of the galaxy. Both their eyes were closed, neither could see the other, but they could feel the other was there.

_'You ready Isaac?'_ Samus thought in her head. Her voice echoing in the space they were in.

_'Anytime Samus.'_ Isaac replied calmly, his voice also echoing.

Samus envisioned the spherical amber form of her Morph Ball in her in mind. The shape of her Combat Suit changing into it. At the same time, Isaac's Xeno Suit changed into it's version of the mode in her mind. An obsidian ball, black as space. The rounded curves turning transparent with glass part way around the actual ball, a platinum mist hovering behind the glass. The glowing ball of energy in the center, where Samus' body would be housed, was a deep sapphire blue. The blades on the obsidian hunters hips formed and curved around the ball, leaving gaps between the blades end and its angled attachment point on either side of the slit. The wing shaped chains that dangled from the hilts now attached to the sides of both spheres. Isaac felt his body lose its form and change into a free flowing state, like he was floating through space itself.

In reality, the suits glowed with their own energy, Samus' glowing yellow like the sun and Isaac's arching with black sparks that slowly matched the color of Samus aura, and changed into the forms in their minds. The balls quickly and wordlessly moved through the pipe, twisting and curving as it did until they reached the other side and unfurled into their bipedal forms.

They slowly opened their eyes, the feeling of the others presence fading away. Isaac staggered back against the nearest wall and slid down to a sitting position, his hand on his head, Samus mirrored him and leaned a shoulder on the adjacent wall. Both hunters visibly exhausted from the exchange.

"That...was..." Isaac started, trying to catch his breath.

"different..." Samus replied, trying to catch her breath too.

"_Looks like it worked."_ Delta chimed in skeptically. _"But it looks like the linking exhausted you two. I recommend we stop by the ship at some point to analyze this further. There's only so much I can discern from using your suit functions."_

"We'll put it on our to do list." Samus replied catching her breath.

"For now..." Isaac said as he looked towards the obstacles that awaited them. "We have a marathon to run."

They were in a room with grass and rock that connected to a winding corridor that ascended slightly. Isaac could barely make out the wavy image of a Toxic Tangle Weed, but Samus could see the corridor was filled with them.

"You'd be right." she said as she walked over the sitting hunter. "Think you can walk or do I have to carry you again?" She extended a hand him.

"Puh-lease Samus." Isaac replied as he took her hand. She pulled him to a standing position and headed off towards the weeds. "I'll be fine."

They moved up the winding corridor, shooting the Toxic Weeds to make them retract into the ground and Reaper Vines that jutted from the walls, Isaac blocking a few with his swords when they popped out a bit too close for comfort, and eventually reached a door at the end, the columns that accentuated its threshold now crumbled around it.

They entered the door to reveal a long corridor, a door at the very end of it at the top of a small vertical jump. The corridor had toxic weeds an Reaper holes throughout. A rock slide had smashed through a wall at some point since it intruded slightly into the corridor and uprooted the flooring.

"I guess we're getting close if things are this bad." Isaac commented.

Samus brought her beam canon to bear. "Get ready."

Isaac got in his defensive stance, his gauntlets charged. They charged through the corridor, Samus shot the weeds to make them retracted while Isaac blocked the Reaper Vines and shot their eyes to make them retract sometimes breaking their blades in the process. They reached the rocky cliff face in no time, Isaac turning to offer Samus a leg jump as she jumped off his hands. Isaac jumped and back flipped over the wall.

They had reached their goal and readied to open the door. The threshold entangled by the large poisonous roots. They opened the door into a large open sky room, a giant magenta bud in the center, surrounded by a pool of toxic water, its roots blistering and pulsing with pustules as it swayed harmlessly.

"I think we found the source of the toxins." Samus stated. She slowly approached the giant plant. One of its large spiked roots sticking out from a small tunnel near the base. She could make out one more tunnel with another protruding root from where she was.

"And me without a bottle of weed killer." Isaac circled around the plant. His blasters charged. "How do we go about uprooting this thing?"

The bud suddenly started to shake before it split open like a rose bud. One of its many hidden roots had snaked around the lip of the room and wrapped around a mechanism on a large dish overlooking the chamber. The root retracted, causing the mechanism to spin and drop the large dish down. The dish's surface reflected the sunlight towards the opened bud, its reflective surface criss crossed with glowing orange lines that drew power into the temple.

Samus instantly recalled the warnings in Watery Hall's access room. _'That which fouls the waters seeks the sun.'_

"Isaac! We have to redirect those panels before-" _"Hurragh!"_ A horrid screech resonated from the bud before Samus could fully warn the Obsidian Hunter.

A flurry of jagged, poison filled foliage shot out from the base of bud, separating the hunters. _"Hurragh!"_ The bud roared again as its contents stirred and grew from the reflected rays of Tallon's Sun.

The creature, a sentient plant like life-form, had a pale underbelly and sickly green armored carapace along its back, strengthening and hardening as it continually grew to its maximum height of thirty meters. Its two arms, the only visible form of offense that could be seen, had two ten meter long scythes adorning the ends of them. Its white face, soulless yellow eyes, and split lower jaw leered menacing at the intruders to its domain, accented by two large red orbs on the sides of its bulbous skull.

"I guessing before that happens." Isaac replied from the other side of the poisonous foliage. "You mind filling me in on this Samus."

The creature lounged forward at the amber hunter with one of its sweeping scythes, Samus rolled under the attack and moved toward the panel directing the sunlight at the creature.

"It's called Flaaghra. I've heard stories about it on the Zebes." She called over the communications channel, her scanner gathering some information on the creature. "From the looks of things, this Flaaghra's growth cycle has been accelerated by some outside factor. Looks like it needs near constant exposure to sunlight in order to maintain that size."

"So if we redirect that panel, then Flaaghra should shrivel up." Isaac concluded

Isaac fired off a hail storm of sapphire bolts at the giant plant, many of the bolts bounced off of the it's hardened outer shell, gaining Flaaghra's attention. Flaaghra's soft underbelly was easily scorched by Isaac's gauntlets, distracting it from Samus' movements. Samus reached the panel and charged her beam canon in preparation to lock the panel back in an upwards position. She fired the large orb at the dangling edge of the panel, forcing it back up and halting the sun's rays to the killer plant.

"_Hurragh!"_ Flaaghra roared in agony as the solar rays were averted from its body. Flaaghra toppled over in pain, the size of its body too big a strain to support without the sun's energy. The two tunnels that were at the base of the bud suddenly cleared, the roots of Flaaghra retracting into the bud.

"Looks like your Morph Ball can fit into the tunnels, maybe your bombs can destroy this thing." Isaac surmised.

"Worth a shot. It looks like the roots are the most vulnerable part of Flaaghra." Samus wasted no time in rolling into her Morph Ball and into the tunnel leading to the base of Flaaghra's bud.

The tunnel elevated towards the base, but ended at a circular entrance that was blocked off by the bud's mass. When Samus reached the base she detonated a bomb near the roots. The pulsing sky blue orb fizzled and pulsed before detonating. Samus tried to roll out of the way before the explosive detonated. The bomb set the bud ablaze, spewing fire in the tunnel that forced the spherical hunter out. Samus returned to her combat form and slid across the stone floor, using her hand to slow he momentum. Isaac had reached the Amber Hunter and they watched Flaaghra burn in the inferno Samus caused and gradually shrink in size.

"Did we get it?" Isaac asked, his arms still raised towards the giant bud, the flames gradually subsiding.

The hidden roots snaked their way around the arena and clutched onto the solar panel again, bringing it back down to focus on Flaaghra.

"Doesn't look like it." Samus replied as she moved back around the arena towards the Solar panel. Suddenly another solar panel fell down behind them and directed sunlight at Flaaghra's weakened form, causing it to grow back to its menacing size.

Isaac moved towards the second panel behind them. "I got this one!" Isaac exclaimed as he jumped and rebounded off the wall behind panel. He kicked the solar panel, using his momentum to force the panel back into an upright position. Samus charged her canon once more and fired at the previous panel and forced it back into position.

"_Hurragh!"_ Flaaghra roared again and tumbled forward, slamming his scythes in the ground on either side of the hunters. They jumped back to avoid Flaaghra's bladed arms.

Flaaghra leered in front of them, the tunnel towards the base of Flaaghra's bud hidden behind its split lower jaw.

"Any Ideas?" Isaac asked Samus. Flaaghra lifted its scythe closest to Isaac and swung at the the hunters. Isaac brought both his split blades to bear and blocked the swipe.

"If I can get through its jaw, I can detonate another bomb at the roots." Samus turned towards Flaaghra, the creature wheezing and oozing a purple-yellow poison from the orifice in the roof of its mouth, its soulless yellow eyes staring at the hunters hungrily.

"Easier said than done." Isaac replied with a strained grunt as he pushed the giant scythe away.

Flaaghra reared its head back, slamming its repelled scythe back into the ground, the purple-yellow liquid dripping feverishly from its skull and with an angered roar it lounged forward and spewed the poison from its mouth. Isaac skipped backwards towards the stone wall and avoided the toxic liquid, but Samus had disappeared in the confusion.

"Samus!?" Isaac shouted in a panicked attempt to find the Amber Hunter. His search was cut short as Flaaghra slammed both its scythed arms in a scissor motion on the obsidian hunter. Isaac eyed the arms carefully in an attempt to analyze the attack _'Which ones moving faster...the right!'_ He jumped over the scythe and then cartwheeled on the second before lodging one of his blades in Flaaghra's scythe, making it crack outward from the intrusion.

"_Hurragh!"_ Flaaghra suddenly whipped back in pain and flung Isaac off his cracked scythe. He landed at the base of a protruding stone block. Isaac quickly looked back towards the flailing plant to see that it had been lit ablaze and slowly shrank again.

"How the...?" Isaac breathed in confusion when he saw the familiar orb of the Morph Ball shoot out and change back into Samus' bipedal form.

In the confusion of Flaaghra's poisonous attack, Samus had dodged rolled forward, between he plants split lower jaw and changed into her morph ball. While Isaac was contending with the killer weed Samus had made her way towards the base of the plant once again and detonated her bombs on its roots.

_'That clever girl.'_ Isaac mused to himself.

"Isaac! Get over here!" Samus exclaimed.

"On it!" Isaac sprinted towards the hunter and came to an abrupt stop when all four panels suddenly fell down.

"Does it ever end!" Samus exclaimed.

Flaaghra began to grow in size again, spouting volumes of poisonous liquid at the two hunters. They dodged to the side and began running around the arena as Flaaghra followed them with its poisonous saliva.

"Any ideas Samus? Every time we burn it, the roots just use those panels to resurrect itself." Isaac asked a he continued to run the perimeter of the arena.

"I think its on its last legs now. One more bomb should take care of it.." Samus reasoned as she fired a charged beam at the panels as they past them, she had already redirected two panels away from Flaaghra.

Flaaghra had ceased its poison spewing and used its scythe to knock down one of the panels.

"I don't think our friend here is going to make that easy." Isaac replied as they stopped running.

"Its getting more aggressive with its tactics. We'll have to stagger its movements if I'm going to get a shot at bombing the roots." Samus replied.

"I'll think of Something." Isaac ran in the opposite direction and began firing at Flaaghra's under belly. "You take care of the panels while I distract it."

Samus continued to redirect the panels, she redirected one of the panels and continued to the next one. Flaaghra attempted a swipe at Samus with its cracked claw, but Isaac had other plans for the creature.

"Hands off buddy." Isaac exclaimed as he blocked the attack mid swing. "Time to trim the plants." Isaac repulsed the scythe and brought his second blade down on the cracked scythe, shattering the weapon and leaving a jagged stub.

Flaaghra recoiled from the pain and shock of having its arm shattered, raising its injured arm high in the sky. Isaac lifted his blade in the air and rared his arm back. He threw the blade at the injured arm, piercing the burnt flesh of Flaaghra's arm and lodging it inside, its wing chained hilt dangling in the wind. Isaac fired a black bolt of lightning at the hilt and synthesized a sparking chain, that made the crystal instantly form and grow until it was wrapping around his arm.

Isaac tugged the chain, pulling it till it went tout, and pulled Flaaghra's arm forward. Satisfied that he had created a solid chain, he waited for Flaaghra's reaction to his forceful tug. He did not wait long as the plant creature yanked its arm back and pulled the Obsidian Hunter into the air. Flaaghra brought its still bladed arm forwards in an attempt to impale the hunter.

_'I hope you know what you're doing Isaac.'_ Samus thought to herself as she eyed the scene in the corner of her deep aquatic blue eyes on her way to the second of the remaining panels, knowing that she had to double back to the remaining one positioned in front of the struggling Flaaghra.

Isaac detached the razor winged chain from his arm and allowed it to flow free as he was hurled high into the air. Flaaghra still pushed its scythed arm forward in an attempt the split the free falling hunter in half, unaware of the hunter's actions.

_'Gotcha.'_ Isaac mused behind his helmet.

Isaac shifted his body mass, lifting him out of the way of Flaaghra's attack at the last minute and barely skimming the bone scythe, catching a faint reflection of his black form in the creatures arm. When he reached the base of the large bone blade, Isaac retracted his second split blade with his left hand and brought it back behind his head. The world slowed around him in that moment as he looked for a point on the creatures arm for which to execute the final stage of his plan. Isaac found his mark half a meter from the base of the blade where Flaaghra's arm thinned slightly and stabbed his blade in the center of Flaaghra's arm, front flipping and landing on Flaaghra's shoulder and extending the chain on his remaining sword in the process. Flaaghra flailed in pain as it felt the second split blade pierce its arm, its pale green blood spilling from both wounds.

Samus was making her way back to the final solar panel in an attempt to finish the long battle. She glanced to the flailing plant and saw its right arm flail wildly in an attempt to dislodge the black split blade. The chain of the blade had wrapped itself around the creatures arm and cut its way into Flaaghra's membrane due to the wings razor sharp edges.

"Samus!" Isaac exclaimed.

Samus saw Isaac wrapping around Flaaghra's left arm as the creature flailed and thrashed in an attempt to swat the tiny hunter, The winged chain of his second blade still wrapped around his armored forearm.. "You look like you're having fun." Samus mused at the sight.

"Just keeping things interesting! I need you to hold off shooting the last panel for a moment." Isaac asked as he was flung towards the stone wall surrounding the arena.

"Why would I do that?!" Samus asked as she readied for another charge beam.

"Have you seen where the closest tunnel entrance is to the things roots?" Isaac jumped off the wall and used the momentum of Flaaghra yanking on the chain still attached to his left arm to propel himself towards Flaaghra and land on its forehead.

Samus looked towards the tunnel located right in front of the flailing Flaaghra, underneath the last solar panel. She glanced to the other tunnel she made use of earlier, but it had been destroyed in Flaaghra's fit of pain and rage.

"You go an idea?" She questioned as she stopped below the solar panel.

"Yes, you think you can wait for my signal?" Isaac asked as he used his electrical powers to catch his free flailing chain embedded into Flaaghra's right arm and bringing it to his free hand and wrapping it around his forearm, the chains melding with the gauntlet on his arm.

"As long as you don't take too long." Samus challenged.

"Deal."

Isaac shot the red orb on Flaaghra's left temple, cracking the hardened substance. He then jumped up in the air using the chains as a sling to slow him at the height of his jump. He tugged the chains, redirecting his momentum, and pulling himself back towards the red orb. Isaac's foot collided with the orb, the cracked surface splintering and cracking even more until it finally gave way and shattered, exposing the overly sensitive membrane underneath the orb and penetrating the surface with his armored boot. The sudden pain to the sensitive membrane underneath made Flaaghra snap its head forward again, launching Isaac at the last lowered panel.

Isaac landed on the lower part of the panel, where Samus would shoot in order to redirect it. "Fire now Samus!" Isaac shouted. Samus obliged and fired the large yellow orb at the panel.

The panel flipped up abruptly, launching Isaac up and over Flaaghra. The creature tried to swipe at the hunter, but Isaac had different plans. "Time for some shock therapy!" Isaac's body radiated with black lightning that surged through the chains towards Flaaghra. The bolts engulfed the plant and made it twitch uncontrollably from the countless volts coursing through its body. Coupled with the blades that had penetrated its flesh, the bolts were Shocking Flaaghra inside and out, revealing its warped skeleton.

Isaac continued to fall from above Flaaghra, passing over the creature's head on the way down. He front flipped to add more momentum to his fall and tugged on the chains again. The chains forced Flaaghra's arms to snap backwards abruptly, some bones could be heard snapping at the sudden redirection. Isaac landed at the base of the stone slap opposite the entrance they used earlier, Flaaghra being pulled back suddenly and away from Samus, the combination of Isaac's electrical surge and lack of solar energy rendering it powerless to resist, giving Samus a clear shot to its roots.

Samus took the opportunity to roll into the last standing tunnel and detonated a bomb on the roots of Flaaghra once again.

"_Hurragh! Hurragh, argh, argh, hurragh!"_ Flaaghra wailed as it was engulfed in flames and lightning. It slowly shrank down to its tiny size until it was reduced to ash, Isaac's blades falling free and returning to his hands with a tug of his arms.

Samus made her way towards where Isaac had landed, he was sitting on the stone block, propping himself up on his armored forearms. It lead up to another stone block where another entrance to the Sun Chamber was located.

"Is it dead?" Isaac asked, eyeing the dying embers atop the large bud. The ashen remains of Flaaghra were carried out of the Sun Chamber on the wind.

"I think we took care of that weed problem." Samus replied nonchalantly.

The bud suddenly rumbled and burst into a geyser of clear pristine water. The hunters looked towards the polluted pool surrounding the bud and watched as the poisonous shrubs under the water slowly died and faded into the ground, the remnants of Flaaghra's influence disappearing., the once green and acidic waters turning into the pristine pool that once filled the base of the bud.

"The waters are returning to normal." Samus stated.

"_With Flaaghra dead, the poison that radiated from its body and the various roots and foliage that sprouted off of it are no longer overpowering the waters around here."_Delta analyzed. _"I don't recommend drinking it yet, but with a little time and some treatment from the remaining plants around here, it should be safe to use."_

"Thanks for that Delta, but what are we going to do about that." Isaac pointed to the door the pair originally entered through, it was still covered by the rigid poison foliage that Flaaghra attacked them with earlier.

"_...I don't know..."_ Delta admitted hesitantly.

"It should fade eventually." Samus added. "We should just head through the door behind us. My map shows a few rooms we haven't been to yet that loop around top the main plaza."

"Fine by me." Isaac rose from the stone and prepared to climb up the rocks when the fountain gushing out of the bud suddenly sputtered and shot out an object before dissipating.

The object landed in between them and the door atop the stone. The object was circular with amber paneling and a reverse _Z_ through it. The objected leaned against the stone and glow ever so slightly.

"Looks like another upgrade for you Samus." Isaac replied playfully.

"Is that...?" Samus asked to no one in particular. She stepped up on the ledge and approached the object, her scanner and suit sensors identifying the object as. "My Varia Suit. Why was it in the bud?"

"Maybe it was used as a filter to clean the water?" Isaac guessed.

"_That would explain why the Flaaghra burst into flames when you detonated a bomb on it. The reflective heat resistant armor of the environment suit probably enhanced the force of the flames."_ Delta reasoned.

"Either way, I'm getting my suit back and you don't have to get skewered by territorial wasps again." Samus jeered at the Obsidian Hunter, she noted the florescent blue of Isaac's icon.

"At least I'm not allergic." Isaac replied nonchalantly.

Samus reached out to the object with a satisfied smirk. The upgrade glowed and disappeared into Samus' suit and began to lift the hunter off of the ground, causing Isaac to stumble back slightly, not expecting the spectacle. Samus slowly rotated around until she was facing the once energetic arena. She outstretched her arms and closed her eyes, tilting her head back slightly as she let the Varia Suit integrate with her suit. Multiple beams of small indigo light slowly appeared around Samus. The beams began assailing Samus' Combat Suit until it was glowing with the indigo light.

The light suddenly exploded outward, revealing a bulkier yet elegant armored form of Samus Aran, her iconic Varia Suit glowing from the setting sun, the rays of light reflecting off her sunset amber panels and accentuating her multiple emerald lights the completed and outlined her feminine form.

Isaac released a low whistle at the sight as Samus slowly descended and touched down to the stone platform, the suit looked like it carried a great deal of weight yet the only indication of this was when Samus landed. Once Samus stood up to her full height, she made armor look like any other piece of clothing.

"Yep, they're screwed." Isaac stated as he made his way up to the door, a casual mention to the Space Pirates.

Both hunters' visors lit up as a second square appeared next to the status icons. _"As I suspected. Once the Varia Suit became active, another icon would appear."_

"Then we can dual link abilities if we need to." Samus replied as she jumped up towards the door.

"We should still be careful when doing so." Isaac advised as they went through the door.

The door opened into a long corridor. It had trees that arched inward as it reached the ten meter high ceiling and were spaced at even intervals, the roots and branches frayed wildly along the perimeter of the room. The floor had crumbled leaving a small plateau in the center of a pool of pure water, the congregating point of the tree roots in the room.

"We should try and focus on the pirates now that I have most of my armament back, excluding my Grapple Beam, but I don't need that to fight." Samus advised as she leapt across the pool and landed on the plateau in the center of the ten meter long pool.

"We don't really need to stay in these ruins much longer now that your suit is restored. We could find some extra goodies to bulk you up, but I think we should be fine for now." Isaac added. "You have any advise Delta?"

"_I traced the descent pattern that Ridley had used on his way towards the surface and various pirate radio feed to triangulate a point intrigue. Their communication codes are sloppy at best."_ Delta replied in an amused tone to his cybernetic accent.

"Any luck?" Isaac asked as he jumped to the plateau Samus had already jumped from and finally to the end of the room, the floor cracked from the intrusion of Tangle Weed.

"_From what I can tell there is a facility of some kind in the ice cap region of this planet."_

"I think those are called Phendrana Drifts. The map station had a mention of it, but no actual data." Samus chimed in. They moved through a crack in the wall to their right, once an elegant door way, now crumbled and barely noticeable. It lead to a long corridor that had been carved by the Chozo that had built the rest of the temple. Near the end the of the corridor the hunters heard the repeated detonation of explosives.

"_I'm detecting high levels of electrical energy up ahead. Assume hostile."_ Delta warned to which the hunter's dew their weapons, Isaac grasping one of his swords and raising a gauntlet blaster.

As they continued down the corridor, they eventually rounded a corner to find a floating blue electrical ball with five yellow orbs that alternated as they moved around the surface of the energy ball.

"A Pulse Bombu. Be careful Isaac, these things are immune to most forms of weaponry." Samus warned, the data on the creature appearing on her visor.

"What's a Pulse Bombu?" Isaac asked

"A life-form comprised of pure energy. It occasionally releases segments from its body filled with excess energy when it generates too much." The creature released a segment on queue and it exploded in a burst of energy. "Like that."

"So what do we do about it?" Isaac asked as he lowered his weapon, seeing that the creature was passive aggressive and merely floated back and forth in the small corridor.

"We could try and predict when the next discharge will be. " The creature discharged another two segments in rapid succession. "Or you could cut through it if you can charge your sword with a strong enough electrical charge. Just be careful, Bombus are attracted to large power sources, especially free floating ones."

Isaac brought his sword to his helmet, tilting it in his reverse grip. "Easy."

Isaac brought the sword behind him and charged it full of black lightning. Arching wildly in the hall, the Bombu began to descend toward the hunter, but Isaac swung his blade faster than the creature could move and split it in half causing it to discharge the large quantity of energy it had. He stepped back and replaced his sword back to his hip, neither hunter fazed by the blast.

"Told you." He replied as he continued through the door in front of them.

It opened into a vertical shaft that they were at the very top of. A steep hundred meter drop waited in front of them, a track leading down the side of the wall. They peered over the edge to see some protruding tree branches and a circular room at the bottom of the drop.

"That's quite the drop." Samus stated.

"You scarred of heights Samus?" Isaac challenged.

"You think you can support both our weight with your boosters?" Samus asked, ignoring the comment.

"I think so." Isaac replied as he knelt by the edge. He stood and extended a hand to the Amber Hunter. "Here, it may get a little bumpy."

Samus took his hand. "I think I'll manage." Samus replied confidently.

Isaac smirked behind his helmet and placed Samus' hand over his shoulder and placed his free hand on her hip. "Hang on." He warned before he leapt off the platform and let them free fall to the ground. He activated his boosters, the blue flame bellowed out and slowed the two hunters as they approached the ground.

When they entered the circular room, they saw four active War Wasp Hives, two on either side of the room behind two pillars. Samus quickly fired two missiles at the hives on her right, destroying them before the insects could swarm. She whipped her canon around to the opposite side and fired on the two remaining hives, but hey had already deployed its soldiers by the time Samus missiles had destroyed them. Four wasps darted about the room, the hunters touched down and gained footing.

Isaac wasted no time and fired at two wasps with each of his gauntlet blasters. Samus downed one more wasp on her side, but the final wasp evaded her shots and attempted a swipe at her head. She ducked the attack and fired at its back, decimating the insect in an instant.

"I hope we don't have to deal with them anymore." Isaac breathed out. Samus could tell the exhaustion in his voice.

_'Don't blame him for being tired. It has been a helluva day.'_ She walked back to him, he was standing in front of a wall with another Chozo Scripture written on it.

"Looks like you're up Samus." Isaac indicated the wall.

Samus approached the wall and began to read the Scripture. _"The cries of this dying land echo in our ears as we Chozo watch the Great Poison seep ever further into the living pulse of the planet. The dark energy sinks into the trees and waters, devouring all life." _

"So its a Terra-forming substance then?" Isaac theorized.

"_The possibility is there. If the Poison is from deep space, it could be affected by the various elements that float through space."_ Delta chimed.

Samus continued to translate the scripture. _"Peaceful beasts die by the thousands - some creatures survive, but their forms grow as twisted and evil as the force that fell from th the sky. Many of these mutated monstrosities remain small enough to do little harm, but others grow enormous and threaten our very existence."_

"Like the Plated Beetle." Isaac added recounting the fight with the mutated subterranean creature.

"I think I'm starting to understand what the Great Poison is." Samus stated cryptically.

"What would that be Samus?" Isaac asked.

"It's probably Phazon. I need more info before I can be sure of anything, but I have a feeling we'll find our answers in a Space Pirate research facility...if we can find one."

"Then we'll have to hope the facility in Phendrana has some answers." Isaac replied.

"One can only hope." Samus replied in agreement as she went to finish the scripture. _"One such beast defiles our sacred fountain, disgorging poison from its foul form, replacing pure, flowing water with cascades of creeping death. Even in the face of such horror, we Chozo do not turn in fear. We are all that stands in the way of this Great Poison, and it is our duty to contain it."_

"So even the Chozo couldn't handle Flaaghra." "Isaac replied solemnly.

_'More like they couldn't handle the negative energy. If it's what I think it is.'_ The foreboding thoughts ran through Samus' mind for an instant before she turned to leave the room. "Come on Isaac, let's get to the Phendrana Drifts before night fall." She urged the Obsidian Hunter to follow, glancing around the room and noting the panels that adorned the adjacent walls. _'Cordite panels for decoration, some things never change.'_

"Yeah..." Isaac breathed out as he glanced at the scripture one last time, strange thoughts filling his head. _'I wonder if that negative energy has to do with this chill I feel.'_ He followed Samus out of the room.

The hunters entered into another wide circular room with a platform in the center that mirrored the lift they used to enter the Chozo Ruins. There were two alternate entrances into the room, one of which being directly in front of them and the other off to the left. There was a bird's head panel off to the left side to indicate where the lift was headed, the holographic icon in the center of the lift was already active.

"The pirates have been through here already." Samus reasoned. "This must be how they are moving supplies through the temple and placing ballistic plating in restricted areas."

"_Unless they're utilizing another entrance through the ruins."_Delta added.

"The only ways left are by air and the way we entered through the canyon." Isaac replied as he approached the lift panel. "I hope they don't use either one or they might detect Samus' ship and we lose the element of surprise."

Samus went to the panel as well, hoping the pirates hadn't discovered that possibility yet. "Hopefully they're more preoccupied with their research to bother with a search." She scanned the panel for the destination of the lift.

"Assuming this lift doesn't take us directly to their research facility." Isaac replied.

"_Not likely Spirit, I'm detecting a large amount of heat at the base of this lift. Wherever we are heading, its not Phendrana Drifts."_ Delta warned.

"Large amounts of heat? This lift must lead to a dormant volcano, or somewhere with large crystals." Isaac reasoned remembering the caves of Soul Stone back home and how dangerous some of them could be to navigate.

"Uh oh." Samus stated in a dreading tone.

"_'Uh oh?'_ What's the _'Uh oh'_ for?" Isaac asked not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

"The area below is called _Magmoor Caverns._" Samus replied as she eyed the lift.

"..." Isaac kept silent expecting to hear more from the hunter.

"If the name is any indication, then we are dealing with lava based predators by the same name." Samus continued in her analytical tone. _'Good thing I got the Varia suit when I did, or we would have to waste time looking for an alternative route to Phendrana.'_

"So these '_Magmoors'_, How dangerous are they?" Isaac asked, as he moved next to the hunter.

"Magmoors are serpent like predators that have evolved to live in high thermal areas like lava. They are blind, but see through sonar and they can use it so perfectly that you'd think they can see." Samus explained, keeping her calm demeanor.

"_Reminds me of a certain someone, eh Spirit."_ Delta whispered in a accusing tone.

"Quiet Delta." Isaac whispered back harshly.

"I'm sure there are other creatures in the caverns, but Magmoors will be the worse thing we run into down there." Samus warned.

"We don't really have time to look for another root around if we are going to kill Ridley." Isaac replied quickly as he moved onto the platform. "If these Magmoors are as tough as you say, then we'll be extra careful moving through the caverns." Isaac looked back to the Amber Hunter and shrugged with his shoulders. "Or did you want to find another way to get to Phendrana?"

Samus walked onto the panel as well and activated the hologram in the center. "Just making sure you knew what we're getting into."

"I just fought a giant plant monster, I think I can handle a few lava snakes." Isaac replied nonchalantly as the lift descended.

"If you're sure." Samus replied with a hint of worry in her tone. She still had reservations with Isaac fighting something as ferocious and calculating as Ridley, especially in his armored form.

"Relax will ya." Isaac replied I his Caribbean accent, lightly back handing Samus' paulder. "I can handle a sociopathic pterodactyl." His accent earning a chuckle from the veteran hunter.

"I've been wondering about that actually." Samus replied. "What exactly are you?"

Isaac looked to the Amber Hunter, half expecting the question, but not expecting to be asked as soon he was. Barely a day had gone by since the two had met and now he had to explain himself if the two were to continue working together smoothly.

"...I'm not sure where to begin." Isaac started, rubbing the tendrils on his helmet.

"I'm not asking for a life story, just give something to work with." Samus asked again as the lift reached the bottom of the elevator shaft. It opened into a large circular room that that looked like the rest of the Chozo Temple, various cracks and crumpled walls replaced the once elegant architecture, a single door in front of the hunters made their root clear and apparent. The ceiling of the room was criss-crossed with metallic bars to keep it from collapsing.

They proceeded through the door that opened into a vertical shaft that was lined with a series of smaller lifts that were lined around the perimeter. They used the lifts to descend down the vertical shaft as Isaac slowly began to tell Samus his origins.

"I guess the only place to start is my home world." Isaac started, his light island accent low and serious.

"That would be a nice start." Samus replied reassuring the Obsidian Hunter.

"I was born on a planet far beyond the reaches of your perceptions. Far beyond your outer most rim. So far that you would leave into a void that surrounds your reality. That planet was called Chaos, A world where everything is created equal and no creature is above the other." Isaac began.

"You're telling me that your home planet isn't even in our universe." Skepticism all to apparent in Samus' tone as they descended to third and final moving platform as they reached the bottom of the shaft, the lighting becoming progressively more red in tone.

There was one path before them through a long tunnel as Isaac continued his explanation. "You asked." Isaac shot down a batch of Shriek bats that tried to swoop down on them.

"It's a little hard to believe. You know Japanese, you speak perfect English and you have a Caribbean accent. I'm not a fool Isaac and I don't take things at face value." Samus replied sternly as they rounded another corner and continued down a steam filled corridor. "Next thing you're gonna tell me is that your savior of the galaxy of something." The Amber Hunter chided.

They continued through the corridor where they rounded another corner, turned right, and continued on their path.

"With that much working against me, my story does seem a little far fetched huh?" Isaac replied with an amount of amusement.

"More than a little, but I'll keep listening. After all we're hunting a Cyborg Pterodactyl."

"At least your open minded." Isaac replied as they came a pool of magma that surrounded a rock in the center.

There was a creature with a beige shell that covered its red scaly skin and yellow eyes. It looked like a ball scurrying along the rock's surface, but revealed an opening in the back.

"A Grizby." Samus said as she scanned the creature. "Nothing to worry about, they're little more scavengers." She noticed shifting sand on the far side of the room where they were to jump to. "And a borrower."

"I'm guessing a cousin to the beetles up top." Isaac added.

"Beetles that stay under ground and jump up to spit acid at their prey." Samus added. "So as you were saying Isaac." She said as she leapt across the gap and shot at the borrower when it attempted to jump at her upon reaching the far side with Isaac in close pursuit.

They entered into another room where they were met with two floating platforms that were supported by a mixture of gas and heat from the hot pool below, fire spewed out of piping that ran along the walls of the room. They jumped from platform to platform avoiding the spewing flames by rolling under them as they landed on the platforms. They jumped to the far side and fired at another Borrower that took residence in a a small alcove that opened into a small cavern.

"My species is known as the Celestials. We aren't interstellar heroes or messiahs, we prefer to stay on our planet and not get directly involved in the political affairs of other worlds." Isaac replied as they stepped into the small cavern that was fill with lava, hot rock and floating platforms. "We-" Isaac suddenly stopped mid sentence as he eyed the fiery pools.

Isaac lifted his gauntlets and unleashed a hail storm of bolts into the magma.

"What are you doing?" Before Isaac could reply to Samus' question, the area where Isaac was shooting began to bulge and rise as a large serpent rose out of the magma. It's yellow underbelly accentuated by the charred black hide on its back from the heat of the magma, its three yellow eyes on its forehead stared angrily at the hunters.

"I'm guessing that's a Magmoor." Isaac replied as he aimed at its eyes.

"You'd assume right." Samus replied calmly as she charge her beam canon. She noticed that Isaac's bolts were reflecting off the Magmoors eye lids. "Aim for its mouth, just like the Parasite Queen back on the station."

"I just hope it doesn't shoot lasers out of its mouth." Isaac replied as he waited for the serpent to open its mouth.

As if in response to Isaac's comment the serpent reared back its head and spewed forth a tidal wave of flames. Both hunters unleashed their weaponry on the creature's mouth striking it in the back of the throat. The Magmoor quickly retreated back into the magma, not wanting to face the hunters.

"At least it wasn't a laser, now let's get to the other side and watch the Puffers." Samus indicated the floated green and and red cracked floating balls that spewed forth noxious green gas from the tubs on its body. "They detonate and release harmful toxins into the air." She jumped to the first rock in front of her and then to the platform as she ascended to the tallest rock that rose out of the magma.

Isaac followed suit as he avoided the puffing creature. "Those can't be natural." He commented.

"You don't have Puffers on Chaos?" Samus chided.

"There are many strange creatures on Chaos. Those ain't one of 'em." Isaac replied as they made their way down to the other side of the cavern.

Samus noted the hanging hook that dangled from the ceiling. _'Times like this I wish I didn't lose my suit functions.'_ She silently lamented the absence of her Grapple Beam.

They moved along a wall with a sliver of land to safely move across. They came to an alcove that they crawled through, Samus using her morph ball as her paulders made it difficult moved through the large space.

The crawl space opened into another cavern that had strange orange lighting along the far walls and rock platforms in it.

As the Hunters leapt from rock to rock they noted the artificial make up of the holes. "I wonder if the Chozo put those there for aesthetics?" Isaac asked aloud.

_'Not likely.'_ Samus thought to herself. "I think the pirates might have set this up." She replied as they landed on a lip that led them to cave entrance.

Isaac noticed the light markers inside the cave. "I'm guessing the beacons were the clue huh?"

"Be ready." Samus replied.

They moved into the cave where they were greeted with a large gate that surrounded a glass tube that ascended into the ceiling, sucking hot magma along with it.

"I've seen this set up before." Isaac stated as he moved closer to the tube.

"_Looks like the pirates are harnessing thermal energy."_ Delta analyzed. _"I wonder what could warrant the use of thermal energy?"_

"Maybe to research that energy from the Meteor." Samus replied. _'Or worse.'_

"I didn't see anything in the Ruins. Maybe we can get a clue if we can get through this fence." Isaac placed his hand on the bars and wrapped his fingers through them.

"I don't think I can climb this with one hand." Samus replied.

"_Not to mention it would be inadvisable to remove your Varia Suit in this intense environment."_ Delta added.

"Excluding the intense heat, the predators around here could appear and attack at any moment." Isaac replied as he looked back to the Amber Hunter, his hand still on the fence. He suddenly felt a prodding at his foot, he looked down to see a beige creature with three red prongs that curved inwards in order to grab objects, one of which was poking at Isaac's armored foot. There were various blue streaks running along its face and along its side with six red legs moving its tiny body.

Isaac jumped onto the fence and began shooting at the creature, his bolts bouncing off of its shell.

"What the hell is that?!" Isaac exclaimed as he shot at it once more.

"A Triclops. They're scavengers and have extremely strong mandibles and a thick shell that none only my bombs can destroy if I'm near the mouths." Samus replied. She looked along the ground and saw that there were three of the creatures crawling along the ground under the grating. She eyed an entrance on either side of the grating that she could morph ball through. "And it looks like I'm going through their den to get to the other side." A hint of annoyance in her tone.

"Try not to get caught." Isaac replied as he began to climb over the fence. "I'm think we shouldn't ability linking for this, just in case those things get their mandibles on one of us."

Samus released a sigh and morphed. She rolled to the entrance and waited for the Triclops to move away from before she made her move. Isaac had already crawled over the gate through a small gap between the top and the ceiling. Samus found her opportunity to move through the hole and quickly dodged the first creeping scavenger. She rolled to the far side, outside of the first Triclop's sight. The second Triclops was circling closely to the tube of magma, leaving little room for error.

Samus quickly rolled behind the creature and was a mere meter from the exit when the third Triclops caught sight of her and charged for the amber ball. She rolled forward, but the Triclops cut her off before she could escape. Isaac could not do anything to help Samus effectively and watched anxiously for Samus to make her move. He did not wait long as Samus quickly rolled from one side to another and evaded the creature. She rolled through the opening and unfurled into her bipedal form.

"Good job Samus." Isaac patted the Amber Hunter on her bulbous shoulder.

"I hope we find another way back to the marsh." Samus replied not wanting to go through that ordeal again.

They moved into a large open cavern, the magma filled tubes lined the walls. The cavern was held up by rock pillars and the floor had been lined with gratings. Steam vents littered the ground and various gratings were mounted on the rock pillars leading to a door on the far side. They dropped down from the ledge and moved to the edge of the rock ledge.

"They must be performing some intense experiments if they need this much thermal energy." Isaac stated as he leapt to the first platform.

"_There must be a monitoring station for all this equipment. It would be a good place to look for information."_ Delta added. _"And try not to short out the computer this time."_

"You set off the the self destruct to one space colony and they label ya for life." Isaac replied as they reached the other side.

"_Try three times."_ Delta corrected. _"A space colony, a space defense system, and a weather satellite. All destroyed because you pressed that little red button."_

"If they didn't want anyone to press it, then they shouldn't have made it red. They should've made it something boring like brown or indigo. No one ever thinks press those buttons."

_'What a regular comedy routine.'_ Samus silently shook her head at the arguing duo as they reached the door at the far end. They moved through the door and exited in an open crevasse with a building in the center of a magma pool. It was held up on four pillars with various supply crates underneath.

"_This must be the monitoring station for the thermal energy supply."_Delta informed the hunters. _"There may be some useful info there."_

"What are we waiting for?" Isaac replied as he took a step forward, only to to be stopped by Samus putting her hand out in front of him.

"You really need to look before you jump in head first." Samus warned.

"You mean the four auto turrets that are lining the underside of the station." Isaac indicated the rotating barrels. Samus raised a finely trimmed hidden brown. "Did I forget to mention I can see the flow of active electrical currents."

"Kind of left that one out." Samus replied.

"Let's just say my powers help out a lot, now let's not waste anymore time. I'll get the turrets attention, you use your missiles."

"I don't have many left." Samus replied.

"Then we'll have to improvise." Isaac replied as he ran towards the station, using the floating rocks to keep above the magma.

"Does he ever think his plans through?" Samus questioned as she watched the Obsidian Hunter run towards the facility.

"_Hard to believe he was the strategist during the war."_ Delta absently blurted out. _"Uh...I mean..."_ He tried to cover up his mistake, but the veteran hunter had already caught his blunder.

"What?" She tried to question artificial construct, but was interrupted by a stray energy shot that struck the rock next to her, the crackling of lightning, and the destruction of two of the auto turrets.

Samus quickly traversed the platforms and made her way to Isaac's position under the station behind a batch of supply crates next to an energy supply line. She fired a burst of beam energy at the turret to her left, temporarily disorienting the turret before it returned fire. Isaac fired off another bolt of lightning at the turret in front him, overloading it and destroying it.

"Took you long enough." Isaac joked as he fired a round of sapphire bolts at the auto turret Samus had fired on previously, one bolt striking the turret's targeting system and causing it to fire randomly and at an increased rate.

"I thought you could handle yourself, what with you running head long into enemy security." Samus replied as she peered over the crate she was using as cover. She locked the targets position into her missile guidance system and quickly ducked back behind the crate when a ghostly blue beam came barreling at her.

"Just making sure they were up to regulation. Sadly not so much." Isaac joked again.

They heard the sentry turret stop and then a low hum as it gathered more energy. Samus took the opportunity to fire one of her four remaining missiles at the turret. The turret fired again, making Samus duck behind the crate quickly and firing the missile away from its intended target, but the white-blue ball of concussive energy curved and went straight for the turret, colliding and destroying the wild sentry.

"Could've fooled me." Samus rebuked

They got up from behind the crate and moved from under the station to the half complete platforms that circled around the perimeter and towards the station entrance twelve meters above them, examining the tubes of magma that pumped in and out of the canyon's face. As they reached the inside of the station, which was hastily made up of patch work spot welding from the exterior, they examined the monitors of the station. There were various tubs of thermal energy that lined the walls and even one in the center of the room, all barred around the exterior to provide extra stability.

"Looks like nothing but progress reports on the flow of geothermal energy. They also seem to have found some crystals that have a low amount of Phazon radiation. They may be continuing their experiments down here." Samus informed Isaac. She was at a cluster of monitors that were situated under the only windows in the station that overlooked a door embedded in the rock face below them. "Here's an order to be on the look out for us. If they know we're here, then why would they leave this station unprotected? Maybe a change in shifts?"

Isaac did not respond. He was concerned with the monitor in the corner of the station, next to the second entrance that lead to one more door in the rock face of the canyon.

"Isaac?" Samus questioned, concerned at her accomplices lack of witty comeback. _'What could be so interesting that he would avoid making a joke.'_ She walked over to the monitor Isaac was staring at intently.

She looked over the blue teal screen and read the letters that were transcribed there.

_Ridley is very eager to complete the tests he's having the scientists work on in the research facility. I hear he even secured us a valuable asset in our endeavor. Many have their objections to the alliance as they believed a human would only slow us down. Those that did voice their opinions were the unwilling volunteers of the various projects Ridley has us working on. I, for one, am content to keep my post at this station. It's better than crossing Ridley or working under the supervision of that human Malak. Something about him doesn't feel right. I don't even think he's human._

_'Why would this log catch his attention? Then again, a human working with the Pirates is very strange. Maybe he knows this Malak.'_ Samus thought as she brought her attention away from the monitor and back to the Obsidian Hunter. She reached out her hand and snap her armor fingers making a metallic scratching that brought Isaac back to reality.

"Wha? Oh Samus, did you find anything?" Isaac asked as he refocused on the mission.

"Just that they found some Phazon in the crystals and are probably using it along with the geothermal energy they're collecting to continue their experiments." Samus replied as if she was a teacher reciting an assignment to a student. "Though you seem very interested in this monitor, so much so that you missed my first recap. What's the deal?"

"..." Isaac did not respond at first, choosing to make a move for the walkway and towards the door in the cliff face.

"You know who that Malak guy is don't you?" Samus continued to question the hunter as she followed him closely through the door that lead to a hole no bigger than half a meter.

They used their ability link and moved through the tunnel quickly which turned out to be a sort of maze, Samus found an energy tank along way and improved her shield strength. Once they reached the end. The layout hinted that it was once a tunnel and the pirates were attempting to dig through it and reconnect it with the canyon. They arrived at an elevator in a cornered off room further hinting at the idea of a previous rock slide.

"Look Isaac, if you don't want to talk about it that's fine. Just remember that we need all the information we can get and _share_ it if we have a chance of beating Ridley." Samus replied as she activated the lift using the bird console. The panel read _Phendrana Drifts_.

"..." Isaac kept silent.

They stepped on the platform as it ascended into the ceiling. _'Must be a pretty rough past.'_ Samus concluded from Isaac's abstinence. As they ascended, their visors began to fog, the temperature stats in their environment sensors began to drop rapidly. As they reached the top they stepped into a cavern covered in snow and ice. The remnants of technology were frozen in thick sheets of ice in front of them. Samus had to use her Charge beam to clear the path through a winding tunnel they used to move through the cavern, the slim windows showed them the outside as snow flakes fell to the ground.

Isaac followed silently as he processed the information from the station in his head. _'What's your game this time Malak? Are you trying to stir another war? Is your lust for destruction and carnage that overwhelming?'_ Isaac thought about the man who owned the label. Isaac looked at the Amber Hunter's back and debated telling her what he knew. _'I really should tell her. If we run into him, it may end in her death if she is too unprepared, but I really shouldn't tell her too much about us. It goes against the Guardian's rules.'_

They entered into a large opened canyon covered in white snow as far as the eye could see. A temple atop a cliff to the hunter's right. The remnants of a water way to their left and self sustaining floating platforms that had been covered in ice and snow.

Samus suddenly stopped and turned to face the Obsidian Hunter once they reached the edge of the creek that ran through the center of the canyon.. "Okay Isaac, are you going to tell what the history is between you and Malak or are you just going to play mute for the rest of this mission?" Samus asked sternly this time. One way or another, she was going to get an answer out of Isaac.

"..." Isaac kept silent before he took a deep breath. "Might as well." Isaac began as he took a step towards the bone chilling creek and took a knee in front of it. "Malak is someone I knew a long time ago. We grew up as friends, but a civil war turned us into enemies. He was a Celestial like me, but he was from a different tribe on another continent and held a command over the flames of hell itself." Isaac explained.

"So then we can talk to him, maybe he'd be willing to help us since the war is over." Samus reasoned.

"That would be assuming he had not changed for the worst. To put it simply Samus..." Isaac looked over his shoulder, a single sapphire lens staring into Samus' emerald visor. "Malak is to me as Ridley is to you."

* * *

**_After a four month delay here is the sixth chapter of Bounty Hunter. Sorry it took so long, but between having the chapter file delete on me four times and losing the drive to put this out, I was really not having it._**

**_But I said screw that and picked up my keyboard again. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and yes Isaac does have a Caribbean accent now to give him a little cultural background but its not a blatant in your face accent just something that you would barely notice in casual conversation._**

**_Feel free to review this chapter, I made it a little longer than usual to make up for the long wait._**


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